Girl of My Dreams
by LadyBranwen2012
Summary: T/P Trunks meets Pan through dreams and learns about her terrible life after being adopted when she was born. Now it's up to Trunks and Gohan to protect her. *WARNING FOR CHAPTER 10 & 11, mention of rape*
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! This is my newest story. I just want to let you know a few things first before you read. 1) I don't own DBZ. 2) This might possibly be considered an A/U, but not really. A few things have changed, but nothing drastic, but enough for things to be different. 3) A lot of this story will be in Trunks' journal and when you see ~*~*~*~ over and over, that means that you're reading the journal. Okay, enjoy!  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 1  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I'm in total darkness, like a void. There's nothing at all around me, just as if I am in space, but without the stars. I feel as if I am floating. Suddenly a sound breaks the silence. I hear someone crying…it's a girl…she's younger than I am. I can tell because of her voice. She's talking…no, whispering to herself. I can tell that she feels alone and wants someone with her…Wait…  
  
"Ooh…why c-n't ---- be better? -here's nothing wrong w--- my life, but ---- -----."  
  
Everything is so muffled. I can barely figure out what she is saying. Who is this girl? I want to help her. I can hear her crying now. Where is she?  
  
The darkness shifts into a blur and I can just barely make out the outline of a girl, lying in her bed, crying into her pillow. Man, why is everything so blurry? I just want to know who this girl is!  
  
I hear her start to sob even louder, but she talks into the pillow and I can't hear what she is saying.  
  
"What's wrong? Who are you?" I ask. I hear my voice echo around me, but even as loud as it is, the girl doesn't answer me. She should be able to hear me… "Hey! What's wrong?" I yell louder. Still no answer.  
  
Then everything gets more blurry and then I return to the utter blackness.  
  
That's the dream I have been having for the past three weeks. Things have gotten clearer than when I first had it, such as now I understand more of what she is saying, but I still don't know who she is or what is wrong with her. I just have this need to go and help her and I feel like I'm letting her down by not helping her. But it's ridiculous to feel that way since I don't even know her! Any other time, I would say this is just a dream, except this time.…this time it felt so real. I can't just sit back and let whoever this is feel this way. Whatever her problem might be, I don't think it's life threatening, but…I just need to help her.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Trunks, dinner's ready!" Trunks heard his mother calling from downstairs.  
  
"Okay!" he yelled back down. He closed the journal he had been writing in, hid it under the mattress, then went downstairs to eat.  
  
"What useful things were you doing up there, boy? You certainly weren't training," Vegeta, Trunks' father asked when he came down the stairs.  
  
Bulma, Trunks' mom looked up from serving the food on Vegeta's plate. "Oh leave him alone, Vegeta! Not everyone lives for training you know."  
  
"Whatever else he was doing is just a waste of time. A warrior, Trunks, is always prepared to go into battle. You have been slacking off in your training. You are going to go soft like Kakarrot's boy if you keep it up and I won't have it," Vegeta said gravely, boring a hole into Trunks with his eyes.  
  
Bulma rolled her eyes and sighed. "Just sit down, Trunks. Don't listen to him, your father is just trying to be the jerk that he is."  
  
"Whatever," Trunks said as he sat down in a classic teen idontcarewhatyousayevenifyouareright tone.  
  
His sister, Bra sat next to him, waiting to be served. She was talking on the phone to one of her friends, like always, about what they would do at the mall today and she twirled her hair in her hand.  
  
"Get off the phone and eat," Vegeta said rather harshly.  
  
Bra ignored him and continued talking. Vegeta put down his fork and leaned forward on the table, and stared at her and growled. Bra stared back at him defiantly, talking in the same cheery tone that she always did. "Thanks, Mom," Bra said when she was finally served.  
  
Vegeta continued to stare Bra down, even after Bra was halfway done with her meal. "Get off the phone now, or else you aren't getting money from either your mother or myself to go out and shop," he threatened.  
  
"Gotta go," Bra said quickly as she hung up and ate.  
  
Trunks smirked. He always loved how Bra was always so quick to obey their father when it came to having her money taken away and the innocent look she always plastered on after that threat.  
  
"Why can't we have a normal dinner?" Bulma mumbled as she picked at her food.  
  
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After dinner, Trunks stayed in the kitchen and helped his mom wash the dishes. Vegeta had left to train, throwing a disapproving glance towards Trunks for not following him. Bra was most likely already at the mall with her friends since Bulma had given her money to shop.  
  
"Hey Mom?"  
  
"Yeah Trunks?"  
  
"I wanted to tell you something?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be gone for a few weeks."  
  
Bulma stopped cleaning and looked up at him. "Oh, you're telling me? Not asking me like a good child should? Well…why are you leaving?"  
  
Trunks then told her about his dream and how much he wanted to help the girl.  
  
"But Trunks, it was just a dream."  
  
"I know, Mom, but I also know that it's real. I'm supposed to go after her and help her. I just really feel like I have to Mom and you know I wouldn't go away for just any dream. This has to be real. And if not, well, I'll find out in a few weeks I guess. But I really feel like I can help this girl, whoever she is."  
  
Bulma sighed. The look on his face convinced her completely. "All right Trunks. I trust you."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Wow, I can't believe Mom is going to let me go! She's always so protective of me, just like Dad is of Bra. She's even agreed to let Dad know what I'm doing so I don't have to talk to him…after I'm gone of course! Poor Mom! I'm glad that she is helping me though. I really need to see this girl and find out about her. Maybe the dream was just a dream, but I know that that girl is real and I'm supposed to find her. It's just a nagging feeling inside of me and I don't think it'll go away until I find her.  
  
Oh well…I'm leaving tomorrow morning, hopefully before Dad wakes up or else I'm going to be in trouble…  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Please review!  
  
~Lady Branwen~ 


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Dragonball Z. Please review the story so I know how I'm doing!  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Trunks sat under a tree the next day at sunset writing in his journal.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
This morning I woke up and everything was already packed, so I decided to just leave. I left a note on the table saying goodbye to everyone. Dad almost caught me though. I had no idea he got up so early to train! Does he even sleep?!  
  
He was in the gravity room while I was trying to sneak out of the house. When I was going to run past the gravity room door, he came out and went to get some food. I don't know what happened, but I heard him mumble, "Damn kids," and walk back into the gravity room….I think it's because I had a "little" midnight snack. "Little" meaning that most of the fridge is empty!  
  
Anyway, I eventually got out of the house and left. I decided to walk for a while. #1 So that Father wouldn't sense my ki leaving and #2, I wanted to take my time and figure out what the hell I was going to do. Then later I would start to fly once I was well away from the house. I still don't know what I'm going to do actually. I have no idea what I'm going to do or where I'm going and I have my doubts about this whole adventure thing. I don't have a clue of where to even start to look for that girl, but deep down, I know I'm doing the right thing and it's my destiny to find her. I don't know how I know, but I just do.  
  
Basically, I've had an uneventful day. I ended up flying over a major city and I felt like something was there. Of course I thought it was the girl, since that's who I set out to find. I followed the feeling and felt it get stronger. I was pretty sure that I was going to find the girl, but I only ended up finding Goten.  
  
"Hey Trunks, what are you doing here?" he asked when he saw me. "My mom wanted me to go out on a date with some girl. I'm waiting for her right now. I wish mom would leave me alone and quit interfering with my love life. Don't you think—"  
  
"Shut up for a minute, Goten, I have to tell you something." I said.  
  
I told him about everything that had happened, and told him about the dream. He seemed really interested and told me that he would try to follow me later if his mom let him. Then his date arrived and he had to go, so I left and continued my little quest. I don't know though…On the one hand, I want Goten to come with me so that I'll have some company and maybe he can help. I don't know how he would, but maybe he could. Then again, on the other hand, I sort of want to do this myself and Goten might only get in my way. I guess I don't care either way, just so long as I find the girl.  
  
Oh well, I better get a room in the city I'm in now. It's getting late and mom let me borrow her credit card….hehe…I'll try not to order too much room service…  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Trunks got up and walked into a nearby hotel, which just happened to be one of the best in the city and checked in for the night. He walked leisurely through the hotel, then went up to his room on the eighth floor.  
  
"I wonder if I'll have that dream again," he wondered when he was nice and warm under the covers. "I hope I do. I don't know what I'll do if I don't have it again. I just need some clues on where to go from here."  
  
He slowly nodded off and fell into a deep sleep…  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Okay, it's like 3:00 in the morning and I'm tired, and want to sleep, but I have to write this down. Almost as soon as I fell asleep, I had the dream. It was different than the one I usually have, but the girl was still there.  
  
It started off as usual, with me being surrounded by darkness, but when I got to see the girl, I was actually where she was. I wasn't looking in on her, I was with her this time…I was with her and she was actually talking to me. Everything was so clear too…I knew we were in a field in the country, whereas in all my other dreams, I just guessed that she was in her room since the background was pink. But finally, I got to see and hear her instead of an outline. Unfortunately I never got to see her face, but at least I know a little of what she looks like.  
  
I was sitting next to her and she was talking to me, but she was looking away from me. I got up and walked around her several times because I was desperate to know who she was and what she looked like. But all I could see was her black hair! She kept her face bent down and her hair hung in front of her face so that all I saw was her nose. I couldn't get to her to move her hair out of her face. It was like there was a force field around her, to keep me from finding out who she was. I don't know how I know that for sure, but I do. She wants me to help, but she is afraid of me and doesn't want me to see her….She must actually be communicating with me through my dreams then…Oh, I can't believe I didn't think of this before! Well, at least she trusts that I want to help her. She must know I'm looking for her now. I'm glad that I at least saw her a little bit. I also know how she sounds and if I ever hear her voice again, I know I'll recognize it.  
  
Her voice was very clear and we actually had a conversation. It was short though. I don't think she wanted to talk very much for some reason…maybe she's afraid of me?  
  
She said, "Are you going to look for me?" She was crying again in this dream. I saw a tear fall down on her hand.  
  
"Yeah, I'm looking for you right now," I said. That's when I tried to find her face.  
  
"No. Stop walking around. I don't want you to see me yet."  
  
"Why? I won't hurt you, I promise. I'm a nice guy, really I am."  
  
She shook her head. "No."  
  
Then there was a moment of silence and all you could hear were her sobs. I wanted to find out as much as I could while I was still dreaming. "Why are you crying? Did something happen to you?"  
  
"No," she said. "I just feel l---- and ------------------." It was like she fazed out or something, like when a TV blurs and the sound gets warped.  
  
"Where are we?" I asked quickly.  
  
"----------- Va----."  
  
"What? I can't understand you." Everything was becoming muffled again. I saw the edges of the world around us become hazy, then blurry until I was looking in on her again. She started sobbing even more, and I saw her cover her face with her hands as she cried. I kept trying to talk to her, but eventually everything became dark again and I woke up.  
  
I'm thinking that it would be a good idea to search out in the country, since that's where she sent us…if she was the one in control of my dream. I think when I asked her where we were, a part of the place was a valley or something, since one of the words started with "va" so that would seem like a good guess… Damn it, I just don't know! It's so frustrating trying to figure out what this dream meant! I'm sure there were a bunch of clues in both dreams of where she is. I wish I could figure it out tonight, but I just can't do it. I'm way to tired to be thinking right now. But at least I wrote it all down so that if I forget it all by tomorrow, I'll have it here.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Trunks woke up late the next morning, after having the dream again. Feeling slightly confused on why the girl still wouldn't talk to him, he slowly got dresses and left the hotel. He wandered the streets aimlessly, then took to the air and headed towards the countryside.  
  
"I hope I'm doing the right thing by going this way," he though. "If she isn't out here, in the country, I'm going to be wasting a lot of time and I want to find that girl as soon as possible."  
  
Trunks flew across the countryside, searching for a feeling of where she was, but came up with nothing. He was lost in thought when he suddenly heard a voice in his head say, "Help! Help me! Please!" It was the voice of the girl and at the same time he felt the feeling he was looking for. Trunks stopped flying and looked down. He saw that he was over a little house with a field nearby that was exactly like the one in his dream…  
  
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Thanks for reading, please review my story!  
  
~Lady Branwen~ 


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own anything of Dragonball Z, all I own are a few of the toys, that's it!  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Trunks looked down at the house and saw the girl from his dreams rush out. She stopped for a second and looked up in his direction, then continued running away from the house. Trunks started flying down towards her, thinking that she was running away from him, but a few seconds later out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man come out of the house wielding a kitchen knife.  
  
"I'll kill you this time you little brat! Get back here!" the man yelled towards her, even though she was far ahead of him. Somehow though, the fat, old man quickly caught up to her. He was just a few yards away from her now.  
  
"Help me!" she said again in Trunks' mind.  
  
Trunks flew even faster than he already was, right over the head of the old man who screamed profanities at him. The girl looked back and saw Trunks coming towards her. She stopped, wide-eyed and hoping that Trunks would get to her before the other man did. He flew to her, picked her up, and flew away from the still shouting man.  
  
As they flew away, she buried her head in Trunks' chest and cried.  
  
"Hey," Trunks said consolingly, "It's okay, you're away from him now."  
  
"I just want to cry," she said softly. "I hate my life."  
  
Trunks wrinkled his eyebrows together in confusion. "But…didn't you say before that there wasn't anything wrong with your life?"  
  
"You saw him! He was trying to kill me!"  
  
Trunks didn't know what to say. "Yeah, I saw him," Trunks said. "But you always seemed so sad and then you said that nothing was wrong, so I didn't know what was wrong. Has that guy been doing that all your life?"  
  
She nodded solemnly.  
  
"I feel so bad for her," Trunks thought. He gave her a little squeeze, a silent way to say that everything was okay now and that he was protecting her. After a moment of silence, Trunks asked, "What's your name?"  
  
"Pan."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Well, I guess I was wrong when I thought that this wasn't life threatening. I just can't believe that she has been putting up with that her whole life! Anyway, I finally found out her name. And what a bunch of questions that brings on top of all the other ones I have. See, one day I overheard Goten's brother Gohan talk to my mom about Videl, who is now his wife, but back then was only his girlfriend. I heard him saying that Videl had had a baby girl a few weeks before then and had decided to give it up for a adoption.  
  
"I can't believe that she kept it from me," Gohan had said sadly. "She just now told me about the baby being mine. Oh, I should've known anyway…but she still should have told me."  
  
"Oh Gohan," my mother had said.  
  
"Videl kept the baby for about a week. Somehow she had kept the baby a secret from her dad and only a few people knew about it. Her father never found out. But she knew that she couldn't hide the baby forever. She named it and everything but…but she didn't think that I would be happy to have a baby with her and she was pretty sure that her dad would disown her for having a baby out of wedlock. So she gave it up for adoption."  
  
"Maybe you could get it back from the agency," Mom said hopefully. "Have you and Videl thought of that yet? What's the baby's name? You could always call and see if she is still there."  
  
"She named the baby Pan. Videl wants the baby back now since she knows that I wanted the baby and that I will stand up with her against her dad if he gets mad. But when she called the adoption agency, they told her that someone had already adopted our child."  
  
And they never got their baby back. They had one other kid since then, and they are still trying to find their Pan, but they have lost a lot of hope. Could this girl be their Pan? I haven't asked her yet if she was adopted. She told me while we were flying that she wasn't ready to talk yet. Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait to ask all of my questions. At least I found her, that's the most important thing. And it only took two days to find her!  
  
We're in yet another hotel since I didn't feel like flying all the way back home tonight…Or dealing with my Dad! I know he'll probably make me train with him in the gravity room for leaving, but oh well. I had to do it. I wonder what he'll say when I bring Pan home?… Probably laugh evilly and kick her out just to be mean to me or something like that. Maybe I should just take her to Gohan's house so that if she says that she's adopted I can say, "Well, here's your REAL mom and dad. Pan meet your father, Gohan and your mother, Videl." Yeah, that's what I'll do!  
  
Oh, and I saw something I'm not particularly happy about…I gave Pan one of the clothes capsules that I brought along so that she could change into something different after she took her shower. As she was walking into the bathroom, she started taking her shirt off and I saw a giant bruise on her lower back. I didn't say anything since I don't think I was supposed to see her start undressing, but I'm so glad I got her away from that place!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The next day, Trunks flew with Pan held securely in his arms to Gohan and Videl's house. They found Gohan outside training with his six year old son named Joey. Gohan looked up when he sensed Trunks' ki and waved to him as Trunks lowered himself down to the ground. Joey ran with his dad to meet Trunks.  
  
"Hey Trunks, who's this?" he asked smiling at the girl that was with Trunks.  
  
Trunks looked slightly nervous, but blurted, "Gohan, this is Pan."  
  
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Hey, thanks for reading! Please review my story!  
  
~Lady Branwen~ 


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry, I don't own Dragonball Z! Don't sue me!  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Gohan eyes become wide and looked at Trunks pleadingly. "Oh, please tell me this is my daughter!" his eyes said. He swallowed and said hello to Pan.  
  
Pan raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong Gohan?" she asked. "You don't look too good."  
  
He looked something in between being excited, ready to cry, and waiting for his doom.  
  
"I'm fine," he said. "Do you want to meet my wife? Her name is Videl, she's a very nice lady, I'm sure she would love to meet you."  
  
Pan shrugged not at all sure of what to do, "Sure."  
  
They all went inside and Pan was introduced to Videl, who quickly had the same look as Gohan.  
  
"Hey, Videl, can I use the phone?" Trunks asked.  
  
"Sure, Trunks," Videl said absently as Joey clawed at her, trying to get some of the attention that was being lavished on Pan. Videl and Gohan each had grabbed one of Pan's hands and walked her over to the table and sat next to her, chatting about their life. Pan obviously thought they were loony and looked at Trunks with pleading eyes, "Don't leave me alone with these people!" Trunks just smiled and walked into the other room where he called Goten.  
  
"Hey Goten!" Trunks said when Goten picked up the phone.  
  
"Oh hey Trunks, I was just-"  
  
"No time for that! You have to get over here now! I'm at Gohan's house and I think that girl that I was looking for is his daughter. She's here and I think that pretty soon they are going to ask her if she was adopted and all that. Hurry up!" Trunks hung up the phone without letting Goten say another word and went back to the kitchen table. Most of what he said would not have made any sense to any normal human since he was talking so fast, but he knew Goten understood perfectly.  
  
When he got back to the table, he saw that Gohan and Videl had pushed their chairs even closer to Pan than when he had left. "Poor Pan," Trunks thought, "She has that doe caught in the headlights look."  
  
"Okay, okay," Trunks said. "Let's give Pan some room." He nudged Gohan and Videl away from Pan.  
  
"How is your life, dear?" Videl asked Pan, still clutching the girl's hand.  
  
"It's- It's fine," Pan lied.  
  
"Oh that's good," Gohan said. "Yeah we have a pretty good life here too. We have a nice son as you can see, but a long time ago we had a dau-"  
  
The doorbell rang.  
  
"Hey, Gohan, why don't you get the door," Trunks interrupted, not wanting to let Goten miss this momentous occasion.  
  
"Hi, Dad," Trunks heard Gohan say absently as he opened the door, and left it open for his father, mother and brother and Trunks' mother, father, and sister to come in as he went back to sit by Pan. Trunks looked quizzically at Goten about all the extra people, who only shrugged in reply.  
  
"Hi Gohan," Goku said. "Who's this?" He asked, seeing Pan, though he already knew what was going on.  
  
Pan jumped quickly off of her seat and backed into a wall to get away from all the strange people surrounding her. Everyone rushed to each other and started talking together about Pan and seemed to forget that Pan was there.  
  
"Hey there," Goten said sweetly, noticing how scared she was, "It's okay. You better stay away from them, but I'll protect you."  
  
Goten walked over to Pan and opened his arms up as if to give her a hug. He had almost gotten his arms all the way around her as a shield when Trunks let out a vicious growl while looking at Goten. Everyone stopped talking and looked at Trunks and Goten quickly let go of Pan.  
  
"Whoops! Where did that come from?" Trunks thought, shocked.  
  
"Oh look," Vegeta said loudly with a smirk, "It seems my son has found a mate."  
  
"What?!" Pan asked outraged.  
  
"No! He didn't mean it!" Trunks yelped.  
  
Gohan stepped away from the group and walked up to Pan, not caring about Trunks' hormones. "Pan?" he asked, "Can I ask you sort of a personal question?"  
  
Pan looked steadily at him, but said nothing.  
  
"Were you adopted?"  
  
Everyone was silent as they waited for Pan's answer. "How did you know?" she finally said.  
  
Gohan and Videl smiled and hugged each other with tears in their eyes. Goku hooted with joy, Goten and Trunks smiled, Chi-chi and Bulma laughed and hugged Videl. Bra was talking on the phone and trying to block out the noise with her finger in her ear, not even noticing what was going on, and Vegeta rolled his eyes and sat down as he knew that he would be there for a while.  
  
"What is wrong with you people?" Pan yelled above all the commotion. "And how do you know that I was adopted?" she said poking Gohan in the ribs furiously.  
  
"You're just as feisty as your mother," Gohan said giving her a hug.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"We had a daughter once," Videl said happily with tears streaming down her face, "But I gave her up for adoption. Right after I gave her up, I regretted it and wanted her back, but by that time, she had already been adopted."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Well, I had named her Pan."  
  
Pan stood staring at her new family in disbelief, then after a few seconds, she fainted into Trunks' arms.  
  
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Don't forget to review my story! Thanks! It means a lot to me.  
  
~Lady Branwen~ 


	5. Chapter 5

I own nothing….  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 5  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Pan woke up a few hours after she had fainted looking a little dazed. I have to say I really felt bad for her because yet again, everyone was crowding around her. I sat next to her bed, holding her hand as if she were in a coma. Even though I knew she had only fainted, I couldn't make myself let go. It was as if I didn't have control of my body anymore. I noticed Dad looking at me with an evil glitter in his eyes and that smirk that's always on his face when he's amused. I'm sure that he thinks that I was holding her hand because she's my "mate," but I'm not…am I? Whatever. I'm sure he is planning something to do to embarrass me about it if it's true.  
  
Anyway, Pan looked around at all of us surrounding her bed and then saw Videl next to her, asking her over and over again if she was okay. Pan moaned and looked away, hiding her face in her hands.  
  
"Okay you guys," I said protectively and perhaps a little harshly, "Pan needs some time to herself now, so go ahead and sit out in the living room. She'll be fine."  
  
Videl must have been in total shock or something, but she didn't argue with me. She must have known there was some truth to what I said. Everyone left the room, and as he was walking out, I heard Dad mutter something about Pan and I needing time to bond. Heh, then I saw Gohan whirl at him and glare at Dad. Well, at least it shut him up! No one wants to mess around with Gohan because who knows when he'll unleash his hidden power at us if we get him mad enough. Though he's kind of lost his edge. Dad says he's weak…But of course he would say that about his rival's son.  
  
"Am I really their kid?" Pan asked me, wanting to hear that these crazy people were not her family.  
  
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are. It would be a big coincidence if they're not."  
  
She nodded. "I guess so."  
  
"Gohan and Videl want you to stay here with them…Do you want to? I'm sure they'll calm down after a little while, it's just they have been waiting all your life to get you back."  
  
"Will you stay here with me? At least until they calm down? I don't want to be alone," she said softly, staring a whole in the bed.  
  
"Well," I said, "I guess I could…I don't know if my parents will let me…And I'm sure if I did stay here, my dad would criticize us even more and say we're mating or something." I laughed nervously.  
  
Pan smiled, amused at my nervousness. "I would really appreciate it if you stayed here with me. By the way, your name is Trunks, right?"  
  
I nodded. "Are you ready to talk to me yet?"  
  
Pan wrinkled her eyebrows. "I'm talking to you now."  
  
"Oh, uh, I mean I wanted to ask you a few questions…I was hoping that you would be able to answer them for me. But it's okay if you don't want to…"  
  
She chewed her bottom lip. "Promise to stay with me if I do answer your questions?" she bargained.  
  
I smiled and nodded. "Okay. How do you communicate with me through my dreams?"  
  
"Oh, I've been able to do that my whole life, though not very well, or else you would have been able to understand what I said. I'm working on that though. One time when I was in a bookstore, I read a book on telepathy and so I thought it would be fun to try it, but didn't actually think I could do it. Well, I did. I have telekinesis too."  
  
I nodded. "And what about in my first dream, you said there was nothing wrong with your life, but obviously there is something wrong with it. I mean, if that guy chases you with kitchen knives everyday or hurts you, then I would consider that wrong. What did you do for him to chase you anyway?"  
  
I heard a gasp come from outside the door. It was pretty obvious to me that everyone was listening to us, but I don't think Pan heard anything.  
  
"Well," she said nervously, "I thought I deserved it. And I had burned the dinner I had cooked for us."  
  
"What?! No one deserves to be treated that way for such a stupid reason! You could have just started over, or went out to eat, it's not that big a deal."  
  
She shrugged sadly. "I didn't think so either, but I did some things wrong sometimes and so I thought that I deserved to be punished, but not as bad as I was." A tear escaped her eye.  
  
"It's all right, Pan," I said gently, reaching up to stroke her cheek and wipe away the tear. "You're far away from that guy now and it's unlikely that he'll find you. You should stay here where you belong. Gohan and Videl would never hurt you, not in a million years. They love you too much! You'd be much happier here."  
  
She smiled. "Yeah, they do seem to love me a lot."  
  
"They do!"  
  
"And so do I," I thought out of nowhere. Where did that come from?! Pan looked sharply at me. I felt my face getting hot and could tell that I must have been blushing A LOT.  
  
"What did you say?" she asked. I heard my dad chuckle outside the door.  
  
Well that confused me even more, since I had thought that thought, I didn't say it out loud. "I didn't say anything," I said defensively. "I'd better go now so you can get some rest." I got up and practically ran out of the room.  
  
When I stepped out into the hallway, everyone was gathered around, watching me expectantly. Dad broke the silence by saying, "So…she hears your thoughts now and wants you to stay here with her? Well, let the bonding and mating begin!"  
  
I growled at him and walked out, noting the grin plastered on his face and mom slapping his arm as I stalked outside.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Please review my story, I'd be so happy if you do! The next chapter should be coming out pretty soon! Keep checking back.  
  
~Lady Branwen~ 


	6. Chapter 6

Wow, *scratches head* It's about time that I update huh? Well, here you go! And I don't own DBZ, you know the drill.  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 6  
  
Trunks stalked out of the house, not wanting to put up with his father's remarks. Goten saw him and followed him outside.  
  
"Trunks! Wait up!" he called after his best friend.  
  
Trunks stopped and turned around to wait for him. As soon as Goten was within five feet of him, Trunks started ranting about his father.  
  
"Who the hell does he think he is?! Who cares if I like a girl?"  
  
"Well," Goten said cautiously, "You don't date too much you know. Maybe that's why…."  
  
"I don't care! He shouldn't make such a big deal about it. Mom's not, and you know that she would be the first one to make fun of me for something like that. I never would have expected this from dad. That's embarrassing!"  
  
Goten shrugged. "Hey, at least you found someone you like. I don't have a choice of who I go out with…at least not at the moment. Mom won't leave me alone. But you know, Gohan told me that she isn't bugging me as much as she bugged him. My mom just wants to have a lot of grandkids to spoil." Goten realized he was starting to slip off onto a different subject, and saw Trunks' impatience. "But of course, you don't care. I mean, I'm with you Trunks! They shouldn't make a big deal about falling in love. It always happens eventually."  
  
"No! Goten!" Trunks sighed exasperated. "I'm not in love with her!"  
  
"Trunks, be reasonable here!" Goten argued. "You obviously like her a lot, and you treat her as if she were your mate. I mean, my god, you were ready to attack me for putting my arms around her. You're getting the way your dad gets when men look at your mom at all."  
  
"But Goten-"  
  
"Yes, Trunks, you love this girl…or at least you have a strong bond with her. You're soooo protective of her."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
No I'm not. I don't care what anyone thinks, I'm not attached to that girl. Okay, I admit that I had a bond with her, but that was only because she wanted me to find her and she put a little spell or something on me. I'm too young to have a mate! I can have girlfriends and all of that, but I don't want a mate.  
  
Don't get me wrong, Pan is a nice girl I guess, but she's not my type…what is my type? Oh well, she's not my type anyway. I just can't imagine finding my mate oneday. Just see her and know it. Hm…..wait a minute…I'll just have to investigate this….  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Trunks walked nonchalantly into his mother's lab where, for once, he didn't find her working on some type of machine or filling out forms for new machine parts. Instead, she was sitting at her desk reading a book.  
  
"Hi Trunks," Bulma said when she lifted her head up to see who had walked into the lab. "What's up?" She could see that there was something on his mind.  
  
"Oh, nothing," he said as he sat down in front of her.  
  
Bulma nodded, knowing that he would eventually talk about what on his mind. "Okay. Are you hungry?"  
  
He shook his head no. Bulma sat looking at him for a second or two before he finally asked, "Mom, did you know when you met Dad that he was the one for you? I mean the first minute or even the first day you met him?"  
  
Bulma looked shocked. "No!! He was a brute! He was filthy and a complete scoundrel. I was in fear of my life because she was going to take over Earth! I couldn't love a man like that at first sight."  
  
"Oh…So when did you know that you liked him?"  
  
Bulma looked thoughtful. "Well, I guess it was after a few weeks that he had been living with me here at Capsule Corp. He was still a creep, but I think I developed some feelings for him then."  
  
"So you developed feelings for him, you just didn't know?"  
  
"That's right. Though….I did think he was kind of handsome on Namek…even though he was a real jerk."  
  
Trunks nodded.  
  
"Why do you ask?" She knew perfectly well why he was asking her all these questions.  
  
"No reason, I was just wondering," Trunks said. He got up and started to leave. "Thanks. Later, Mom."  
  
Trunks wandered around the house, buying himself time. He was going to go and ask his father the same things, but knew that his father would know what he was up to. Trunks walked down a hallway and stood looking at the gravity room door. Trunks smiled, remembering when he was younger when his mother had built the indoor gravity room and forced his dad to promise not to burn the house down. Trunks chuckled remembering the huge argument that erupted between his parents about it. Just then, Vegeta opened the door and said, "What are you laughing at boy? Are you laughing at the fact that I'm getting stronger than you are and that if you don't train you are going to end up like Kakarot's oldest child?"  
  
Trunks shook his head. "This is it I guess," he thought.  
  
"Actually, I just wanted to ask you a few things."  
  
Vegeta looked at him evilly and smirked, "Well, well, let me guess…it's about bonding."  
  
"How did he know that?!" Trunks thought.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own DBZ  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 7  
  
Trunks scratched his head nervously, "Well, yeah I guess so."  
  
Vegeta let out a very rare laugh. "Fine. What do you want to know?" He walked towards the kitchen to get a drink.  
  
"Well, um, I guess I want to know if you knew that mom was the one for you when you first saw her."  
  
Vegeta snorted. "No. She was…hmm…how should I say it? Superficial."  
  
"Like Bra?"  
  
"No, not like Bra! Bra is not superficial!" Vegeta roared, defending his precious daughter.  
  
"All right, all right," Trunks said, waving his hands, "So you didn't like Mom at first sight. When did you know that you liked her?"  
  
"Maybe you should ask you mother." Vegeta turned away. He didn't want to talk about his 'feelings' for the woman. He headed back towards the gravity room.  
  
"I already did, but I want to know when YOU knew, not her."  
  
"You don't need to know," he said just as he reached the door to the gravity room.  
  
Trunks ran in front of him and blocked the way in. "Aw, come on Dad, I won't tell anyone that you told me when you realized you loved Mom. I just want to know."  
  
Vegeta sighed, knowing that Trunks would never leave him alone and let him train until the matter was settled. "Even if I managed to evade the questions, most likely Trunks will go and tell his mommy that I'm not talking to him again. God knows she'll never leave me alone," he thought. Out loud, he said, "If you have to know, I suppose it was when I lived here with her so that I could train."  
  
Trunks nodded. "So….what you're saying is, you had to be around her a lot…and so once you got used to each other, you developed feelings for her?"  
  
He grunted and pushed Trunks out of the way easily so that he could get back to his training, slamming the door behind him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Well, after I asked Dad about when he started having feelings for mom, I packed my things and went back to Gohan's house to stay with Pan. It's 10:00 at night, everyone has just went to bed. Nothing much happened though. Videl and Gohan doted on Pan the entire night. I don't think Pan has ever been so loved because she got a look on her face…the exact one that Dad gets whenever Mom hugs him in public. And poor Joey. All night he has been trying to get some attention so I played with him for a little bit.  
  
So, anyway, I guess I'll find out in a few days or so if I really do like Pan like everyone thinks. I just refuse to believe that I would like her that much without even knowing her. Well…I guess I sort of do. In my dreams I felt like I knew her, but I had never seen Pan before in my life. But that shouldn't make a difference to me. Maybe she made it seem like that so that I wouldn't be afraid to go look for her. Maybe after I found her being chased by that guy with a knife, I felt like it was my job to protect her because I saved her. And maybe I carried that feeling that I had to protect her here and that's why I got so defensive of her. …I hope that's it. All I know is that I just reacted and had no control over growling at Goten. It just…happened.  
  
Today Pan asked me to stay with her for a few weeks. Gohan and Videl were perfectly fine with it, as long as I didn't sleep with her. Like I would! I don't even know her! But maybe after a week or so, I'll see if I start to develop feelings towards her. Then, and only then, will I admit that I do. As of right now, I have no feelings for Pan, no matter what everyone thinks.  
  
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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Well, I said I would admit it if it happened…and I think I'm beginning to fall in love with this girl…I catch myself staring at her all the time. I've been here for two weeks and I know I'm beginning to fall madly in love with Pan. She cuddled up to me like I am already her boyfriend or something last night, and I didn't care. I didn't even move away. Instead of doing that, which I would normally have done, I put my arm around her and rested my head on hers. It was only until we went to our rooms for the night that I realized what I had done. I guess they were all right…I just didn't think that I would be falling in love with Pan so soon. I mean, I just met her, but that bond thing that Dad was talking about must be working. I can't imagine being away from Pan now. This is crazy! Who would've thought that this would happen to me! I mean, I had a dream about some strange girl and now all of a sudden she is real and I'm in love with her!  
  
Gohan and Videl seem to know full well that I'm in love with her. They don't seem mad about it at all, in fact, they have been treating me extra nice. Of course that could be because I found their long lost daughter, but who knows. Gohan is getting kind of protective of Pan too. I don't blame him though, and at least my body and mind understand too since I wasn't dumb enough to growl at him the way I did at Goten. I do get kind of jealous though.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Someone knocked on the door of Gohan's house. Slightly groggy since being woke up at 1:00 in the morning, Gohan wearily got up and opened the door. Standing in the doorway, was a jolly chubby man with gray hair.  
  
"Hello!" he said.  
  
"Hello," Gohan said, wiping sand out of his eyes. "Can I help you?" Videl walked up behind Gohan and put her arms around him, watching the man carefully.  
  
"Yes, actually, you can. May I come in?"  
  
"Sure," Gohan said as he stepped back and opened the door wider for the man to get in.  
  
"Thank you. My name is Charles. I live in city pretty far away from here, though not too far. I am a farmer."  
  
"I see," Gohan said, inviting Charles to sit down. He had no idea why the man was telling him these things.  
  
"Well, I came by because I believe you have something of mine."  
  
"What could we possibly have of yours?" Videl asked. "I have never seen you before in my life. Have you Gohan?"  
  
"No, I don't believe you know me. Nonetheless, I came here because I was told something of mine has found it's way here. I believe my daughter is staying here with you…"  
  
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	8. Chapter 8

AN: Okay, I'm thinking about changing this story to make it look better, like have italics and stuff, but not change the story at all. So if one of these days you see those changes, don't be afraid I've changed something! Lol, but I'm still thinking about it and not sure if I will or not. Anyway, this chapter is longer than any of the other ones I think, so enjoy!  
  
~Lady Branwen~  
  
PS Please check out my other stories, most of them are about Trunks, and there's one about Vegeta and Bulma!  
  
**********************  
  
I don't own DBZ  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 8  
  
"Trunks!" Pan whispered as she shook Trunks awake. "Wake up!! NOW!!"  
  
Trunks rolled over and saw Pan on his bed. For a minute he thought that his dream about her in his bed had actually come true. "Wha?? Pan what are you doing on my bed?" he asked just to make sure he wasn't still dreaming.  
  
"Trunks you have to hide me," she said desperately. "My da- my stepdad is here."  
  
"What? You're joking."  
  
"Why the hell would I joke about something like that?! Hide me! I've already hid my clothes. You just have to hide me."  
  
"Pan, I'm sure Gohan won't let him take you away," he said reassuringly.  
  
She shook her head. "That's not the point. He'll murder everyone in this house to get me back."  
  
"Please," she said with her eyes and with her mind.  
  
Trunks stared at her a moment longer then said, okay, follow me."  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
"Your daughter?" Gohan asked. He looked at Videl hesitantly.  
  
"You're not getting our daughter," she said. She stood up and walked to the door and opened it. "I'd appreciate it very much if you left mister. You're not welcome in this house with this pack of lies."  
  
"I'm not lying, ma'am," Charles said with his beady little eyes shining.  
  
"Yes you are. I gave birth to MY daughter myself. Can you say that about yourself? Did you give birth to my daughter?"  
  
"Videl," Gohan said gently. "Sir, We don't know what you are talking about. But whatever you are thinking, you are not going to get our daughter."  
  
Charles stood still and calm. "I'm quite sure that I am," he said. "You have kidnapped her."  
  
Gohan sneered. "I don't know what you are talking about. No one kidnapped our daughter. She has been living here all of our life."  
  
"Is that so?" Charles asked in his same jolly tone, but with cunning in his eyes.  
  
"Yes, that is so," Videl said. "I do not appreciate strange people knocking on my door at night, telling me that they are going to take my daughter away from me without a reason."  
  
"She is my daughter."  
  
"No she's not!!" Videl yelled.  
  
"Ma'am, if I could just see your daughter for a minute…Just to make sure that you are not lying to me."  
  
"No. Get out of my house. If you aren't out of here by the time I count to five, I'm calling the police."  
  
Charles smirked and left the living room and started walking down the hallway.  
  
"Where do you think you are going," Gohan said menacingly, stepping in from of him.  
  
"Sir, I'm really doing you a favor. The police could be doing this instead. I have proof that my daughter was seen here at this house. I've checked with the neighbors and they said that they have seen her here. Now, if you would like me to call the police and have them get a warrant to search the house for my child, I'd be happy to call them."  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Fine?!" Videl yelled from the living room.  
  
"Yes, fine," Gohan insisted through clenched teeth. He stepped out of the way and led Charles down the hall to where Pan slept. Gohan opened the door and turned on the light. The bed was made and the room was fairly neat except for a few papers on the floor and some new clothes they had bought her were on the desk.  
  
"This is our daughter's room," he said tersely.  
  
"Yes, I see that. But where is your daughter?"  
  
Gohan swept the room with his eyes. "She's staying the night at one of her friend's house."  
  
"Hmph. I'm sure you won't mind if I have a look in the other bedrooms and make a search of the house. Just to get this matter settled of course."  
  
For the next half hour, they let Charles snoop around their house, much to Videl's annoyance. She kept throwing Gohan dirty looks for allowing this to go on. Eventually, Charles gave up and left, promising that he would return later when their daughter came back home.  
  
"So where is Pan?" Videl asked. "She's supposed to stay in the house. Do you think she left?"  
  
Gohan shook his head. "Follow me," he said. He went to the back of the house and went down to the basement. They had just come from down there, but Gohan led Videl to a corner. He pushed a brick and a whole part of the wall opened up.  
  
"What?! Why didn't I know about this Gohan?" Videl asked.  
  
"It's for emergencies," he said. Then into the darkness inside the wall he said, "It's okay, you guys can come out now. He's gone."  
  
Trunks was the first to step out, followed by Pan.  
  
"How did you know about this place when I didn't," Videl accused Trunks as she poked his chest.  
  
"Uh…Um…"  
  
"I told him about it, Videl," Gohan answered. "I had a feeling that this guy would show up eventually. Besides, Bulma was the one who made this thing for us."  
  
Videl squinted her eyes at him and said shortly, "I'm going to bed."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Phew. Well, I can't deny that I thought that guy would show up sooner or later. Poor Pan, while we were hiding, she was shaking so bad. I truly feel sorry for her. No one should ever be so afraid. I took her to this place in the basement Gohan told me about I think like a day or so ago. There is a hidden room behind a wall where people can hide if something happens, which eventually does. Not many people are too paranoid to have a hidden room, but Gohan did. Thank Kami for that or else Pan would have been in trouble today.  
  
Pan was still shaking after her stepdad had left, so Gohan made her some tea to calm her nerves. He told both of us what the man had said. Not very surprising actually. I personally think he was bluffing about the police, but Gohan doesn't want to take any chances. Later on today Gohan said he's going to call my mom and ask her what he should do. I don't know what she can tell him, even though she's the smartest woman on the Earth, I doubt she knows a great deal about legal matters. But, who knows. Maybe she'll surprise me.  
  
After she got done with her tea, Pan still couldn't get to sleep. So I stayed up with her for a while and we watched TV. She fell asleep about two hours after that and so I carried her back to her room. Now, yet again, I'm writing in here so that I'll put myself to sleep. My life was never this exciting, it seems like I've been writing in here every few minutes. I used to just write to calm myself once in a great while or if there was something important to write about, but not now I guess. Well, sleep is coming to me anyway, so I'm just going to stop for now.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
So much for that. Pan woke back up and communicated to me through dreams again. This time I was in front of Gohan's house and she was telling me about her life. It was terrible! He used to beat her daily and that bruise I saw on her back was just the beginning. He even cut her arm on purpose one time for not using the right laundry detergent! How stupid is that?! I can't believe she put up with it for so long. I know I wouldn't have.  
  
In the dream she lifted up her hair and showed me a cigarette burn he had put on her neck. She didn't tell me why he did it though. Kami, he did so much to hurt her! How could anyone allow such a terrible person to adopt a sweet girl like Pan? She would have been much better off with Gohan and Videl.  
  
I still haven't told them about her bruises and burns and scars. She forbid it to me specifically in my dream. I'm going to go against her though. I need to tell them, they have a right to know. I'll definitely tell them if her fake father decides to get the police involved. We have to take pictures of her as proof of what he does to her. I don't care if she feels like we're violating her privacy. This will put that son of bitch in jail for a very long time, just like he deserves. Nothing could be better than that.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Once he woke up again, Trunks immediately went downstairs to tell Gohan about Pan's injuries. He wanted to keep the matter quiet, and not have Pan know, but unfortunately, Pan was already downstairs eating breakfast.  
  
"Gohan, can I talk to you alone?" he asked quietly.  
  
Pan snapped her head in his direction, sensing he was going to tell her secrets. "You're not going to tell are you?" she thought to Trunks.  
  
"I'm sorry," he thought back, "I have to."  
  
Gohan wiped his mouth and got up from the table, motioning for Trunks to follow him.  
  
"Dad?" Pan said.  
  
Gohan turned around and smiled. "Yeah honey?"  
  
"Whatever Trunks says is a lie. Don't believe him."  
  
Gohan furrowed his brow at Trunks and left the room to go outside. Once outside he asked, "What's going on Trunks? Why did Pan look so afraid of what you're going to tell me?"  
  
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Please review! I love reviews!  
  
~Lady Branwen~ 


	9. Chapter 9

I own nothing, DBZ isn't mine, but I sure wish Trunks were mine. Hee hee. ^_~  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 9  
  
Trunks kicked a clump of dirt while he tried to find the best way to tell Gohan about the bruises and scars that Pan had. "Well…When I was bringing Pan here, we stayed in a hotel and she was going to go take a shower. She started lifting up her shirt, while she was facing away from me of course, and I saw a big bruise on her back. She told me that that guy who came for her beat her all the time. When I went and got her, he was chasing her with a kitchen knife in his hand and was threatening to kill her. I don't know what you were planning to do, but I don't think you should let Pan spend one minute alone with that guy, Gohan."  
  
Gohan stood staring at Trunks with his arms folded across his chest. "Well," he finally said, "I can see why you don't want her near Charles. I wasn't planning on letting my only daughter leave me again anyway, but if that guy does what you say, I think we'd be able to get custody of Pan. He ruined it for himself." With that, Gohan turned and walked back into the house.  
  
Pan looked up from her breakfast and her eyes met Gohan's. Videl sat looking back a forth between them, waiting for someone to say something. Trunks walked in behind Gohan and looked shamefully at Pan, who did not register his presence.  
  
"Pan," Gohan said softly, "I want to talk to you alone." He could see the panic in her eyes. "Don't worry, honey, nothing is wrong. I just want to talk."  
  
"Want to talk about what?" Videl asked. "I'm her mother, I should know what is going on. Tell me Gohan!"  
  
He shook his head. "No, for now this is between Pan, Trunks, and I. Come on, Pan, let's go to your room."  
  
Pan hesitantly got up, more talked into it by Gohan's calm and kind voice than anything else. She followed Gohan to her room where he sat on the bed and gestured for her to sit next to him after she closed the door behind her.  
  
"Pan I want to ask you something, and I would appreciate it if you would tell me the absolute truth. I won't be mad, I won't hurt you in anyway or let any harm come to you, but please tell me the truth." She nodded, not looking at him. "Trunks told me that he saw a bruise on your back. He told me about how the man you lived with beat you daily. Is that true?"  
  
She nodded. "I was bad."  
  
"No you weren't," Gohan said putting his arm around her shoulders. "I want you to tell me what he did to you."  
  
Tears sprung to her eyes just thinking of what her life had been like before Trunks found her. "Whenever I did something wrong," she said softly, "He would hit me or slap me. Sometimes he would hit me with a broomstick, or some wires, basically anything he could find. He burned me a few times with cigarettes. Then Trunks probably told you that he came after me with a knife."  
  
Gohan sighed sadly. "I'm sorry I let that happen to you."  
  
She looked up at him confused. "What? You couldn't have stopped it, you were in a totally different house, in a totally different city."  
  
"That's just it," Gohan replied, "I wasn't there for you when you needed me. If only Videl would have told me sooner about you…maybe this wouldn't have happened," he said hitting his hand. "You would have had a much better life and would not be scarred by beatings and burns and Dende knows what else."  
  
Pan smiled weakly as she turned to hug her dad. "It's okay," she said. "I forgive you."  
  
Gohan nodded and hugged her back. "Do you think that maybe you'll be able to say this in court when we try to get you back in our custody?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, as long as it gets me away from him."  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
That night, Pan awoke to the sound of someone moving around outside her door. She sat up slightly in her bed, but lay back down after she figured that it was Trunks. He had been getting up every night since they had been there and checked on her while she faked her sleep. Sometimes he would walk into her room and just sit on a chair near her bed and watch her. She had no idea why, she figured it was just because he was protecting her, and she felt safe because of it. So now she thought he was coming yet again into her room and she let herself be lulled back into sleep. Just as she was falling into a deep slumber, she felt a hand cover her mouth.  
  
Pan's eyes shot open and tried to see who her attacker was, but they were wearing a ski mask. She tried to struggle against the person, but she could not break free of their grasp. Then she thought that maybe she could contact Trunks telepathically, but just as she was going to, she was hit on the head and knocked out cold.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Trunks bolted up in bed. Something didn't feel right. He looked around, feeling very uneasy of his surroundings. Down the street he heard a car start and speed away, screeching the tires. Trunks quietly got up out of the bed and opened the door. He poked his head outside his door and peered around in the hallway. Nothing was there.  
  
"Maybe I'd better check on Pan, just to make sure she's okay," he thought.  
  
He walked out into the hallway and towards Pan's room. Before going in, he leaned up against the door, listening for any noises, but heard none. Trunks slowly opened the door, trying not to wake Pan and peered inside her room. It was too dark, so he opened the door a little more until he could see her bed clearly…without Pan inside of it.  
  
"Pan?" he whispered urgently into the room. "It's me, Trunks. Are you in here?"  
  
No answer.  
  
Knowing something was really wrong he quickly checked the rest of the house. After he couldn't find Pan anywhere, Trunks ran to Gohan and Videl's room and burst in.  
  
"Gohan!" he yelled. "Wake up! Pan is gone."  
  
Gohan jumped out of bed and Videl sat up wide-eyed and stared at Trunks.  
  
"What? You'd better not be playing a joke on us Trunks or I swear-"  
  
"I'm not joking," Trunks insisted, "She's gone! She's not in her room. When I woke up, I heard a car speed away…maybe she was in it."  
  
"She wouldn't run away…would she Gohan?" Videl asked, tears forming in her eyes.  
  
"No," Gohan said consolingly while he got dressed. "I think that bastard came back and kidnapped her."  
  
Joey walked into the room with a blanket trailing behind him. "What's going on?" he yawned.  
  
"Oh sweetie, come here," Videl said. "It's okay," she said more to herself than to Joey. "Daddy's just going to go out for a little bit, but he'll be back. So will Pan. Pan will be back."  
  
Gohan finished getting dressed, looked up at Trunks and asked, "So where is that farm of his?"  
  
"I'll show you," Trunks said. He took off at a run out of the house and took to the air, Gohan following close behind.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Please review! I'm glad I've gotten so many!  
  
~Lady Branwen~ 


	10. Chapter 10

Hey again! Thanks so much far all your reviews! 21 reviews is a record for me lol. Anyway, as you've probably noticed by now, I lied in the first chapter; this IS an AU lol. It kind of went in a different direction than I originally planned. Okay, a little WARNING for this chapter: There is mention of rape. There is nothing really serious, at least I don't think so, but yes, this chapter is a little dark. If you think the story should be brought up a rating because of this chapter please let me know at LadyBranwen2012@aol.com and I will change it. & one more thing, I don't own DBZ or DBGT. Okay, here it is!  
  
~Lady Branwen~  
  
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Girl of My Dreams  
  
Chapter 10  
  
Trunks and Gohan flew as fast as they could to where Trunks had rescued Pan. They searched the house, but they could not find any sign of Pan or Charles. Gohan and Trunks gave up on the house and searched the nearby area and cities. They searched until the end of the day, but found nothing.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Pan opened her eyes to darkness. She felt her arms and legs tied behind her and her mouth gagged. She also heard the rumble of an engine.  
  
"Great. They've put me in the trunk of a car," Pan thought gloomily. "If I could just find a way out…"  
  
The car stopped and engine was turned off. The car door slammed and few seconds later the trunk opened. Pan kept her eyes closed and pretended that she was unconscious. Her kidnapper picked her up and carried her to a small hut, then let her drop to the floor.  
  
"It's about time you paid for all the bad things you have done, Panny," she heard Charles' voice say. "This won't hurt a bit." He hit her with a pipe a few times then began to remove her clothes.  
  
Pan knew what was coming, it had happened before, but this time she had someone to help her. She remembered her telepathic ability and began trying to contact Trunks.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I just can't believe that this has happened. Pan. Now I know I love her. I'm falling apart without her. Why isn't Pan contacting me? I can sense through our bond that she is very afraid and in pain, which means that she has to be conscious, but why isn't she telling me where she is? I can't even sense her ki anywhere close by. I'm so afraid for her. What will happen if my soul mate dies?  
  
Gohan and I searched all over, but we couldn't find Pan. Videl isn't taking this very well, I can't say I blame her. She has been in tears constantly since we came back without Pan. Gohan on the other hand, is furious with himself for letting Pan be taken from him again. He has been training alone in the field outside his house nonstop. You could probably sense his anger from miles away. Goku and Chi-Chi came over today to comfort all of us, but Gohan left to train. Goku has been trying to talk to him but Gohan won't talk to anyone, not even Videl. I was the one who had to break the news to Videl that we hadn't found Pan.  
  
…Finally! She is trying to contact me! But she doesn't know where she is. I just asked her what is happening, but she won't tell me. My poor Pan. I have to help her!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Trunks closed his journal and jumped out of his chair to run and get Gohan. He ran through the house, past a distraught Videl and Chi-Chi, and out the door, the door banging against the wall as he pushed it open. He found both Gohan and Goku outside. Trunks ran up to Gohan who was continually firing ki blasts at the sunset, tears streaming down his face. Goku stood looking sternly at Gohan, but said nothing.  
  
"Gohan," Trunks said gently, but couldn't keep out a note of urgency. "She's alive."  
  
He stopped and turned to look at Trunks, Goku also turning to look at him.  
  
"She contacted me just now," Trunks continued. "She's in pain and afraid, but she is alive."  
  
Gohan suddenly gripped Trunks' arms violently and yelled, "Where is Pan?!" When Trunks failed to answer quickly enough, Gohan started to shake him. "Tell me!"  
  
"Gohan," Goku said placing his hand on Gohan's shoulder. "Let him talk."  
  
Gohan stepped back and crossed his arms glaring at Trunks.  
  
"I don't know where she is. She doesn't know either." He heard Gohan curse under his breath. "But she said that the place is small and that it looks like a hut. She can't see outside though."  
  
"Let's go looking," Gohan said, preparing to take off.  
  
"No." Goku grabbed Gohan's arm. "I think we should wait. I know I seem mean right now, Gohan, but we should wait until she knows where she might be. I know you want to find her, but there are millions of huts all over the country and she could be in any one of them. You can't search all of them. We should at least wait until she has a chance to tell us what is outside of the hut. That would give us an idea of where to look."  
  
Gohan growled and walked back to the house.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
If my dream is in any way actually what Pan is going through, then I'll kill that son-of-a-bitch myself. In my dream, Pan is being beaten and…and the guy keeps raping her. The dream kept going back and forth between him beating her and raping her. That's all that went on throughout the entire dream. Pan was crying and blood covered her body. Bruises covered her face.  
  
I woke up with my ki flaring, I was in super saiyan form. Can you blame me for being pissed at that guy? He's hurting my Pan! Gohan was in my room watching me. I think the sudden raise of my ki had woken him up. He didn't say anything to me, but I knew he wanted to know what I was dreaming. I didn't tell him. Maybe it was actually just a dream. Maybe the dream was just all of my imaginings of what might be happening to Pan. Maybe she wasn't communicating to me through dreams like she used to. Anyway, I didn't want Gohan to worry and think that Pan is being raped if she really isn't. I decided to keep my dream to myself. Maybe I'll tell him in the morning though.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The next day while Trunks was eating lunch, he was struck with the sudden realization of where Pan was. Or at least an idea. He got up and accidentally knocked the chair over in the process.  
  
"Gohan!" he yelled. "She's near a field! She's in the country maybe even on another farm!"  
  
Videl came running to him and held onto Trunks. "Are you sure?" she asked.  
  
Trunks nodded, pushing her off. "Gohan, let's go!"  
  
"No! You come on!" Gohan yelled from outside.  
  
Trunks ran out of the house and saw Gohan already in the air and waiting impatiently for him.  
  
"Don't just stand there staring at me Trunks, come on!"  
  
Trunks took to the air and flew with Gohan towards the countryside yet again.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Videl paced back and forth in the living room biting her nails. It had now been five hours since Gohan and Trunks had left. Soon it would be sunset, another day without her daughter. It had also been two weeks since Trunks had figured out that Pan was out in the country.  
  
"I promised myself I would never lose her again," Videl muttered to herself. "I'm a bad mother. I let this happen to my only daughter." Tears ran down her face. "Well I'm going to do something about it," she said with sudden resolve.  
  
Videl walked out of the house, leaving Joey playing with his video games. She took off at a run and flew into the air.  
  
"Videl! Hey! Videl!" she stopped and turned around.  
  
It was Trunks and with him was Gohan. In his arms, Gohan carried Pan's bloody form.  
  
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	11. Chapter 11

Hi everyone! Here's the next chappie! Okay, this is another chapter with some stuff that might not be for everybody. Pan will describe what happened while she was gone for the two weeks. Again, personally I don't think I went as graphic as I could have and if I were to read it as someone else's story, I wouldn't find anything wrong with it, but of course it's my story and I have never been raped. But if it is too graphic to be PG-13, let me know by e-mail or a review that you think that the story should go up a rating, and I will change it. So needless to say, this is another dark chapter and beware! Please review when you're done reading! Thanks! ~Lady Branwen~  
  
I don't own Dragonball Z. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Girl of My Dreams Chapter 11 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
I had no idea that she would look as bad as she does. I think she hid some of the bruises and more gory details from me in the dreams. Who would ever want to hurt my sweet, lovable, Pan? She doesn't deserve to be beaten the way she was.or even at all! She has cuts all over her body, and her body is bruised and swollen from all the beatings these past two weeks. I could barely recognize her when I saw her, her face was swollen and bloody.  
  
Charles, I guess his name is, left her for dead. No one was in the house when we found her. Pan was awake when we found her, barely holding on to life, but as soon as she saw us, she let herself slip into unconsciousness since she knew that we were going to help her. You couldn't mistake the look of relief in her eyes as her eyelids fluttered down to cover them. It was heart wrenching to see her lying there; she wasn't even clothed anymore. The clothes were in shreds. Gohan had found a blanket and wrapped her up in it.  
  
Ever since the day we found her, Gohan has been by her bedside and won't let anyone but Videl come into the room. He's being more protective of her now. I don't blame him, but Pan is getting sick of it. Every once in a while you can hear her yelling at him to get out of her room.  
  
I don't know whether or not it's a good thing that I can feel her feelings. They are so intense. Pan knows that Gohan is trying to protect her and she understands, but she doesn't want any guys to be around her. No one actually. She wants to be left alone. She's stopped talking to me telepathically so now all I have to rely on is our bond to talk to her, though she doesn't answer back.  
  
.There she goes again. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Leave me alone! Get out of my room! I don't want you here!" Pan yelled from her bed.  
  
"No!" Gohan yelled back. "You're my only daughter and I'm not going to lose you again and if that means that I have to watch your every move, then so be it."  
  
Pan sank back into the bed defeated. She turned and lay in a fetal position ready to cry.  
  
"I'm sorry, Pan," Gohan said gently, "But I have to stay here. I'm not leaving." He received no answer. Gohan sighed. "Pan, we need to take some pictures of your injuries. That way we can prove that your so-called 'father' did it. That way we'll definitely get custody of you. If you would rather have your mom take the pictures, then that's fine, I'll look away, but I'm still going to stay in the room. And you're sure that it was Charles that did this to you?"  
  
Pan nodded. "Can mom take the pictures? Do we even have to take the pictures? I mean you can tell I was beaten up just by looking at my face."  
  
"Yes, we have to take the pictures. This custody battle could go on for a long time, Dende forbid, and we need to have proof that your were beaten up."  
  
"Do you have to be in the room?"  
  
Gohan nodded.  
  
"Let's get it over with then."  
  
Videl came in the room, already contacted by Gohan through their bond. "Pan, I'm sorry sweetie, but you're going to have to take off your clothes."  
  
"Can I keep my underwear on?" Pan asked meekly.  
  
"Sure," Videl answered, "We just need to see all the cuts and bruises." Turning to Gohan she said sternly, "You turn around and don't look!"  
  
Gohan turned around and Videl proceeded to take pictures of Pan's many injuries. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Later at 10:00 that night, Gohan lay on the floor where he planned on sleeping for the rest of the week, maybe longer. Pan was in bed reading to try to make herself sleepy.  
  
"Pan?"  
  
"Yeah dad?"  
  
"I want to know what happened to you for the past two weeks."  
  
"I don't want to talk about it. Goodnight." Pan turned the light off and tried to sleep.  
  
Gohan got up and turned the light back on. "You're not getting away with it that easy," he said. "I want to know what went on. I have a right to know Pan, I'm your father. I can help you, or at least beat that guy up."  
  
Pan sat up in bed and folded her hands in her lap. "Why should I tell you? I don't want anyone near me, don't you understand? What happened to me was terrible. I don't want to remember it, I want to forget it. Why should I relive what I went through?"  
  
"I need to know, Pan. Besides, in order for us to get custody of you, you are going to have to tell the court and judge what had happened to you. Not just now, but your whole life. I would like to know now because I love you and want to know what has happened to you. You'll feel better if you tell me."  
  
Pan shifted uncomfortably. "Fine, I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else."  
  
"All right," Gohan promised, "But you have to realize that even if I don't say anything everyone else is going to know once we go to court."  
  
Pan shifted on her bed and allowed Gohan to sit next to her. "He raped me over and over," she said quietly. "It hurt so much and he made me bleed. And he had a pipe or something and beat me. Anything that he could find that would hurt me, he hit me with it. Sometimes he even threw water on me so that it would make the pain worse when he hit me. When he left for a while, he would tie me up to the bedposts so that I couldn't get away. He did it in such a way so that my legs were splayed and he could rape me easier when he got back home."  
  
"Oh honey," Gohan said and tried to put his arm around her to hug her.  
  
Pan pushed his arm away. "Don't."  
  
Gohan nodded and folded his hands on his lap.  
  
"He did all the things he has always done," Pan continued, her voice cracking. "Whenever he needed to put out a cigarette, he would push them onto my arms or legs to burn me." Pan hunched over, shaking and buried her face in her hands.  
  
Gohan sat still on the bed, not sure if he should hug her or not. "Can I hug you Pan? What can I do? I want to help you."  
  
Pan leaned over to him and cried into his neck. "Don't let him do that to me again, please Dad."  
  
Gohan put his arms around her and said, "I won't my angel, I won't. He's going to pay for what he did to you. No one will ever be able to do anything to my children and be able to get away with it." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thanks for reading this chapter, check back soon for the next one. Again, if the part where Pan described what happened is too graphic and you would like me to change the rating, please let me know and I promise that I will up the rating.  
  
~Lady Branwen~ 


	12. Chapter 12

Hi again, well, the day I am writing this is 7-6-02, and I doubt that this will be seen on ff.net today…So, you can see how long it actually took to get this up there by whatever day you read this lol. Anyway, in answer to your question Sarya, Pan is 14 in my story. I was originally going to have her be whatever age she is in GT, but the way my story is kind of going and what I am planning, she might be too young, so now she is 14. ^_^ Okay, on with the story…

Yadda yadda yadda, I don't own DBZ.

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Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 12

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She finally spoke to me again yesterday. At dinner ever since she came back, she has barely said anything whereas she always used to talk. When anyone came over since she came back, she would hide in her room and refuse to come out. But yesterday, Pan finally opened up to me. 

It was after dinner and I was here in my room sitting up on my bed and watching TV. Pan came in and sat next to me on the bed. I could sense that she wanted to be near me, but was still afraid of being around me for the simple fact that I am stronger than she is. 

'What's up, Pan?" I asked as cheerfully as I could. It wasn't that hard to do since I really was happy to talk to her again.

"Not much," she answered quietly.

"Do you want to do anything?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I just wanted to get out of my room for awhile. It seems like I have been in there forever."

"I'm surprised that Gohan didn't follow you in here," I said jokingly. "He follows you wherever you go."

She smiled. "Well, Dad is asleep on my floor. I saw my chance to get out without him following me, so I took my chance."

"Pan?" I asked seriously. "Is he doing more harm than good to you when he stays in there? I heard that most people who were raped didn't want people to touch them, not even the people they knew and loved. I also read somewhere that they don't want anyone near them. Is that true for you?"

Pan seemed uncomfortable at the question. "I-I guess so. It's just that I haven't had the time to come to terms with-with what happened."

"What do you mean? You've had plenty of time being confined to the house all this time. You're not busy, that's for sure…"

She sighed. "I don't cry in front of people, Trunks. I haven't thought about that day because first of all, I want to forget about it. I never ever want to relive what happened. Second of all, if I ever want to get over that day, I know I have to remember it. When I do remember it, I'm going to cry. I don't want anyone around to see that."

"Oh, Pan," I chuckled, "Is that all you're worried about? No one is going to laugh or make fun of you if you cry. We'll understand why you are crying. If anything, we will comfort you."

"I don't care, I still don't want anyone around."

I decided it would be better to just leave her alone. I mean, I can't understand why she wouldn't want to tell us. Usually if I feel bad, I feel better after telling Mom about everything. Just to get all the unpleasant things off of my chest and that's why I don't understand why Pan doesn't want to just let it all go. Of course, how can I expect her to though? I have no idea what she went through. She can't convey all the feelings that are coursing through her and no one who hasn't been what she has been through will know how she feels. I guess I shouldn't blame her, but I would like her to open up a bit. I feel so frustrated that she doesn't even want me to comfort her in any way. If she would let me, I would kiss her and hold her close to me and never let her go. I would take over Gohan's watch and make sure nothing ever happened to Pan.

Pan looked away from me and I could tell that she wad struggling not to cry. Finally she nestled against me on the bed and laid her head on my shoulder and we watched TV together until she finally fell asleep.

A few hours later, I heard feet stomping around the house in a rush and suddenly my door was thrown open by Gohan. 

"She's gone again! I don't know how it happened, but my Pan is gone!" Gohan yelled. Then he saw the now awake Pan looking at him from the bed next to me. Gohan composed himself and said in a strained tone, "Pan, sweetie, didn't I tell you to let me know if you're going to go someplace?" 

"Yeah, but you were sleeping and so I decided to let you sleep since I didn't want you tagging along anyway. I just wanted to talk to Trunks."

"That's fine, but you have to let me know where you are going. I could have waited outside the door while you talked to him."

"Listen, I'm getting sick of you guarding me like this-"

Gohan raised his voice, "Well I'm not going to let you get taken away from me again Pan. I told you this before, I don't want to argue about it anymore!"

Pan moved closer to me. She wasn't scared, she was defiant. "Well I'm not leaving. Trunks is just as capable of keeping me safe as you are, so I'm going to stay here. You can't make me leave. I'm sick of being locked up in that room." 

Gohan and sighed and for a minute I thought that he was going to try to get her to leave my room, but he just backed up and closed the door behind him.

"I hope you don't mind me staying here. I'll sleep on the floor though, I don't want to be in the same bed as you, no offense."

I looked at Pan as if she were crazy. Why would I want her to not be in my room? I know she's probably thinking that the bed means sex especially if there is a guy in the bed with her, but I don't need that. Well…I do, but that's not the point. I can wait for her. She's worth the wait, especially since I know what she has been through. I just want to hold her and make her understand that I'm here for her and will do anything to keep her safe.

"Why don't we just do this? You can sleep under the sheet and comforter and I will sleep under just the comforter. That way the sheet will be separating us," I said. I didn't expect her to agree to it at all, but it was worth the try.

She shook her head. "No, I don't want you next to me."

I nodded. "Okay then, but at least take the bed. I'll sleep on the floor."

She agreed and she got under the covers and I found some extra blankets in my closet for me to sleep on after I had turned off the television. The last thought I had before I went to sleep, I remember, was that I would go out and get her a present tomorrow, which is today. I know exactly what I'm going to get her, and I hope that she'll like it. Pan is still asleep and it's almost 7:30 in the morning, but I'm going to go out and get her the present so that hopefully I will be able to wrap it and everything before she finds out about it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pan woke up that morning at 8:00 and found that Trunks wasn't in the room. Even Gohan hadn't come to keep watch on her. "What's going on?" Pan thought.

She got out of the bed and wandered groggily to window to open the shades. On the desk in front of the window, she found a black leather hardcover book without a title. Curious, Pan lifted up the cover and tried to find the title, but still she couldn't find one. She lifted up the next page and found that there was writing covering the page where the title should have been. It was dated and finally Pan exclaimed, "It's a journal!" She knew that she should close it again, but she got sucked into curiosity over the journal just like just about everyone does when they know they have found someone's book of secrets. Pan pulled out the chair to the desk and sat down to read all of Trunks' journal.

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If you want to be told when this story or any of my other stories are updated, go to my profile page and follow the directions there. Don't forget to review this chapter! Thanks! ^_^

~Lady Branwen~


	13. Chapter 13

Hey! Actually, for once, this one doesn't have any gory stuff! Lol It's amazing! Okay, this is Chapter 13, I hope everyone likes it. ^_^ If any of you would like to join my mailing list, you can do that once you've read the chapter. I placed the link at the bottom. 

~Lady Branwen~

Disclaimer: I thought you all would know this by now! I don't own DBZ!! 

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Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 13

"Goten, can you ask your mom if she has any wrapping paper?" Trunks asked when he had gotten to Goten's house. "I just bought this present for Pan and I wanted to wrap it when I got home, but I didn't know I would get home so late."

Indeed he didn't. A girl in the mall had kept following Trunks around and clinging to him. It took forever for him to get rid of her! Then of course the store where he planned on buying the present would not open until 9:00 in the morning, exactly 45 minutes after he got to the mall. So Trunks had had to wander around looking in different stores to see if they had anything he could buy, all the while avoiding the crazed girl, but he found nothing like what he had in mind, that he knew that the closed store had. So Trunks ended up staying at the mall waiting for that one store to finally open. When it did open, Trunks paid for the gift, and flew to Goten's house in hopes that they had wrapping paper.

"Sure, I'll go ask her." 

Trunks set the book on Goten's bed and sat down next to it, just staring at the book as if it had caused all the trouble that day. Goten came back into the room holding a roll of birthday wrapping paper. 

"Sorry, I don't think it's anyone's birthday, I hope this will be okay?"

Trunks stared at the paper. Another thing gone wrong. 

"You could always turn the paper over you know…The back of it is white. It's plain, but at least it won't look so bad. You could write stuff on it too if you want," Goten said, noticing Trunks' dismay at the paper. 

Trunks sighed, "Okay."

"What is that anyway?" Goten asked.

"This? Well, it's a journal for Pan." Goten nodded. "I thought since she doesn't want to tell anyone what happened, but she should get all of this off her chest, I figured that maybe she could use a journal. It helps me when I'm upset."

"That's a good idea," Goten replied and crossed his arms after handing Trunks the wrapping paper, "But do you think she'll use it? I mean, you can't guarantee that no one will see what is inside of that journal, it doesn't even have a lock on it. She might not want to write in it and actually commit all her thoughts to paper so that people can read it."

"Yeah, but no one in my family ever reads each other's journals. My mom and sister each have one. We all made a pact so that none of us would read each other's secrets and stuff."

"What about your Dad? Never mind, your family is beside the point. Pan is going to be living with Gohan, Videl, and Joey for a while and they might end up reading it. I don't think Videl would read it, but who knows. And Gohan…I would bet money that if he found it, he would read it."

"Don't you have one though, Goten?" Goten unfolded his arms and pulled out a drawer to take out his own journal. 

"Right here. I've had it for a long time; Gohan gave it to me for my tenth birthday. I don't really write in it that often, only when I'm mad at a certain someone with black hair up in a bun that won't leave me alone about getting a rich girlfriend like Gohan did…"

Trunks laughed. "Well, if he got it for you, then he should know about no one reading it."

"Oh yeah, of course he does. Gohan had one when he still lived here. I remember that. But that's not the point. Gohan wants to know what happened to Pan and I don't think that she would go into any great detail about anything that happened to her, so I'm sure that he would read her diary to see what really happened. Gohan has always been protective of Joey, so I'm sure he'll be even more protective of Pan after all that has happened."

"Yeah I guess so," Trunks said as he finished wrapping the gift. He stared at the plain whiteness of it.

Goten noticed and said, "Why don't you write something one it?"

"Like what? I don't know what to tell her."

Goten sat on the bed next to Trunks. "I don't know…maybe something like, 'To my dearest Pan, be my mate, please!'" Trunks threw Goten a warning look. "Okay, okay. Don't write anything. Maybe you could draw hearts or flowers or teddy bears. Something girly that she might like." Trunks rolled his eyes. "Well I don't know! I wouldn't care what the wrapping looked like, I would care about what the present is. And not even that since it's the thought that counts."

Trunk sighed. "You're right. At least it's wrapped, right? Okay, I have to go now. I'll call you later okay?"

Goten said goodbye and Trunks left the Son house to go back to Gohan's and give Pan her gift.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Pan was still sitting at the desk reading Trunks' journal at 9:30. She was reading the very last of the entries made in the journal. 

__

"I can wait for her. She's worth the wait, especially since I know what she has been through. I just want to hold her and make her understand that I'm here for her and will do anything to keep her safe."

She read the rest and sat back against the chair. Pan sat staring at the book, then decided to flip back through the journal to look closely at a few of the entries.

__

"If she would let me, I would kiss her and hold her close to me and never let her go. I would take over Gohan's watch and make sure nothing ever happened to Pan."

"He's hurting my Pan!"

"What will happen if my soulmate dies?"

"Now I know I love her."

"I don't care if she feels like we're violating her privacy. This will put that son of a bitch in jail for a very long time, just like he deserves. Nothing could be better than that."

"I can't believe she put up with it for so long."

"I think I'm beginning to fall in love with this girl…"

The entries that she had read reverberated through her mind. "Does Trunks really love me?" Pan murmured while looking at the journal.

Suddenly she heard a door open and realized that Trunks must be coming back to his room. Just as Pan was going to stand up and close the book, the door to Trunks' room opened and Trunks found her, half out of the chair, with his journal open. Both stood frozen for what seemed like countless minutes.

"What were you doing?" Trunks asked, though he knew perfectly well what Pan had been doing. There wasn't a hint of anger, or of any emotion in his voice, just calm.

"Well…I uh, I was reading this…I saw this book here on your desk and I thought it was really a book, so I started reading it…But once I started reading it, I realized that it wasn't a book, it was a journal, obviously yours." Trunks stood just looking at in her calmly. Pan didn't know what to think. "I'm sorry, Trunks. I shouldn't have read it."

"How much of it did you read?"

Pan wrung her hands. "…All of it. I'm really sorry. Please don't be mad at me, Trunks! I'll cook you something, I'll clean your room, whatever you want, but please don't be mad."

Trunks saw that Pan was getting really nervous and had started backing away from him. "Pan, it's okay." He tried walking towards Pan, but she only backed up even more. "Really, Pan, everything is okay. That wasn't the nicest thing to do, but I'm not mad at you Pan. I won't hurt you." Still advancing on her, even with his hands in the air, gesturing peace, Pan became frightened and screamed. Trunks stopped dead in his tracks in shock. "Pan, I'm sorry, I'm going to back up now, but please don't be afraid of me."

Gohan and Videl burst into the room. "What's wrong!?" They both cried.

Pan was now huddled in the corner of the room, Trunks backing away slowly. 

"She thought I was mad at her for reading my journal, but I'm not."

"What did you do?!" Gohan yelled. He grabbed Trunks' shirt, lifted him into the air and rammed him into the wall. "What did you do to my daughter?" Gohan's eyed flashed into the aqua green of a super saiyan, his hair flickering back and forth between gold and his own black. 

"N-nothing Gohan! I didn't do anything to her, I was just walking towards her, I swear. I wasn't going to hurt her, she just got scared, Gohan."

Gohan kept Trunks suspended in the air for a few moments longer until Videl told him to put Trunks down. By that time, Pan had already stood back up from her crouching position on the floor in the corner. 

"Are you okay, Pan?" Videl asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm fine. I just got scared." Gohan growled at Trunks. "No, Dad, it's okay, Trunks never touched me. I'm okay, I just…remembered things that have happened before."

Videl looked sadly at Pan. "Oh honey, everything will be okay now, you're with us. You don't have to worry about being beaten or getting hurt in any way. Just look at your father. He's ready to kill Trunks if he so much as moves. He'll protect you. Don't worry, you're safe with us. We even have a lot of friends who won't hesitate to come and protect you too."

"Thanks, Mom," Pan said with a weak smile. "You can't protect me from my memories though. Those will always be there. But, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Trunks now."

Videl looked quickly to Gohan, who in turn glared at Trunks.

"It's okay, Dad. I know Trunks won't hurt me."

As a final word, Gohan growled and left the room and stood outside the door. Videl smiled and kissed Pan's forehead and left the room.

Once the door was closed Pan said, "Trunks, I wanted to know about a few things I read in there…"

"Oh…Like what?" Trunks straightened his clothes and picked up the white package he had been carrying that had dropped to the floor when Gohan had thrown him against the wall.

"Like…you feel like I'm your soulmate…you love me." Pan walked back to the desk and opened it to turn to the page that had struck her the most. She reread the passages that had touched her deeply and had made her want to cry with joy that someone really loved her. "Your exact words were: _If she would let me, I would kiss her and hold her close to me and never let her go. I would take over Gohan's watch and make sure nothing ever happened to Pan. _And there was also this one: _I can wait for her. She's worth the wait, especially since I know what she has been through. I just want to hold her and make her understand that I'm here for her and will do anything to keep her safe._ What is that all about Trunks?"

Pan turned to Trunks and saw that he had started to blush. "Well-I…um…I love you."

Pan smiled. "Really?"

Trunks nodded. 

"Oh that's so sweet!" Pan ran and gave Trunks a hug and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry though Trunks. I love you too, but…but I can't do anything about it. If you give me time, maybe someday I'll be able to be normal and be able to kiss you like a girlfriend should and all that. But I just can't do that right now."

Trunks smiled and nodded. "I know, Pan. That's fine with me. I'm sorry I scared you by the way. Here," Trunks handed Pan the white package. "I know it's not that great looking, but it's the best I could do."

Pan smiled and took the package. She opened it carefully to find a book, similar to Trunks' journal, except it was in brown suede. Pan looked back up at Trunks, who stood smiling at her. She opened it and tried to find a title page, but all she found were blank pages. "You got me a journal!"

"Yep," Trunks laughed. "I thought you could use one."

"Oh, wow! So…you're not mad at me for reading yours?"

Trunks shook his head. "Nah. You'll be able to read my thoughts soon enough anyway, so why should it matter now."

"Thank you, Trunks," she said and gave him another hug. "I read that you were going to get me something…It's kind of ironic isn't it? I read your journal then you gave me one."

Trunks laughed. There was a knock on the door and Videl stepped in the room.

"Pan, since you've been wanting to get out of the house, I was thinking that maybe we could go to the mall. Just you and me, a girls night out or something," Videl asked with a smile.

"Sure!" Pan exclaimed. "I really need to get out of here. I'll be ready in a minute." Pan ran out of Trunks' room to get dressed. 

Gohan watched as she ran to her room, Videl following, then stepped into Trunks' room. His face was stern and his stance was imposing. "I want to talk to you, Trunks."

"Great," Trunks thought, "He looks like he's going to kill me."

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Don't worry guys, I'll write more of what Pan thinks about the things in Trunks journal. That will probably be in Chapter 15 though because there will be a lot of stuff happening in the next chapter like…the return of Charles! Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review! ^_^ I still have my mailing list for you all to join! Just go here! http://www.angelfire.com/realm/ladybranwenxfiles/mailinglist.html

~Lady Branwen~

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	14. Chapter 14

Umm…no comments today I don't think except for some trivia. Did you all know that both of the sliding door mirrors in my room are covered with pictures of Trunks? Nope, I didn't think you knew. ^_^ Okay, on with the story!

~Lady Branwen~

Disclaimer: (To the tune of the famous Barney song "I Love You…") ~I love Trunks, Trunks loves me, _You know I don't own DBZ, Stay away lawyers_, While I give a kiss to Trunks, My Trunks says he loves me too!~ Lol, yes I am crazy, how did you know?

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Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 14

"About what?" Trunks asked. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"About everything, Trunks." Gohan took a step towards Trunks. "Don't hurt my daughter or you'll be very sorry."

Trunks stared in disbelief. "Hurt her? You think that I would hurt her? I growled at Goten for attempting to put his arms around her! I protect her, not harm Pan."

"Well that's all well and good, but it's quite different when it's you. Will you protect her from yourself? When you're mad, are you going to beat her into submission or are you just going to walk away and forget about the argument? You and Goten have gotten into many fights over the years, and you both always ended up fighting to settle things. You can't do that with Pan."

"I know that! I'm not stupid!" Trunks raised his voice. "Why would I hurt her? I love Pan. I won't hurt her, I won't even yell at her! Besides, I don't yell anyway." Trunks turned away, then turned back to Gohan and began yelling, "How dare you say I would hurt her!" He clenched his fists, barely keeping himself from punching Gohan. "And Goten and I settled our problems by fighting because we could. We always ended up laughing at the end because we couldn't remember what we were fighting about. I don't think Pan could even do anything to make me mad anyway, so just lay off!"

Gohan stood with his arms crossed. "You don't yell, huh? Am I mistaken, or are your hands clenched too?"

"Just shut up, Gohan, just shut up," Trunks said as he realized that he had yelled. "I won't hurt Pan. I love her."

"One of these days, she will do something that you won't like. Women have a way of doing that. What are you going to do then? Argue with her the way you just argued with me? She won't be able to take that. She's not a spoiled child from the Brief household, she is a sweet girl who has been hurt by people all her life. I don't want my daughter with someone who will hurt her and remind her of what she has been through. I want someone for her who will treat her like a princess."

"She will be a princess if she marries me," Trunks muttered.

"Right, but will you treat her like one? I'm not impressed by your arguing skills. You have to know when to give up. And she's not a normal girl, Trunks. She gets emotional very easily, like she did just now."

"Well then use that as an example of what I'll do. I didn't hurt her. I wasn't going to anyway. I just walked over to her so that I could give her a hug and give her the present. I wasn't mad at her, Gohan."

Gohan shook his head. "You don't understand. I'm asking about when you _do_ get mad. What will happen then?"

Silence filled the room as Trunks thought about it.

"I know whenever you used to get in trouble, your dad would take you into the gravity room and make you train. Your mom sent you there a few times herself as punishment. After all those years of going into the gravity room to train, to fight, I would be surprised if you _didn't_ associate fighting and beatings with punishment. You have been shown throughout your life that a suitable punishment for doing something wrong is fighting and maybe a beating by Vegeta."

"Dad never beat me too bad. He never knocked me out or anything when we were in the gravity room. He only knocked me out that one time a long time ago before he sacrificed himself to kill Buu."

Gohan shrugged. "Trunks, I just want you to understand that I don't want to have to worry about Pan when she gets married. I don't want to have to worry 'Is she all right?' 'Did her husband beat her?' 'Did he bring back memories of when she was younger and was raped and beaten everyday?' You should really think about these things too, Trunks. Do you want her to relive those things? I'm quite sure that if she gets you mad enough, and you clench your fists like you did a moment ago, she will revert back to what she is now. She'll be crouching in a corner, waiting for you to beat her, thinking about what she used to go through. I don't want that for my daughter, and I won't let her marry someone who will do that to her."

"Oh yeah? Well you're not such a great protector yourself! You let the guy who used to beat her into the house! And what happened? Let me think," Trunks held out his hand and started counting on his fingers all the things Gohan had done. "You let him into the house so that he knew this was the house that Pan was in. Once he was in the house, he saw what kind of lock you had. You showed him all around the house so that he could take note of where all the furniture was, where windows were, and where you slept. And to top it all off, you showed him where Pan's room was. Now how stupid was that? You practically invited that guy to kidnap Pan. I know I'll protect her better than you did."

Gohan lost his imposing stance when he realized that all that Trunks had said was true. "Y-You're right…I did." Gohan brought his hands to his head to cover his face. "I can't believe I did that!"

Silence filled the room again as they both thought over the things that had been said. Videl and Pan walked back into the room. Pan carried a huge blue purse with her.

"Okay guys, we're leaving. We'll be back soon." Seeing Gohan's solemn look, she added, "Don't worry Gohan, you know I know martial arts. That son of a bitch Charles won't hurt Pan with me around, believe me."

Pan looked worriedly at her father, then turned to Trunks to ask what was wrong with Gohan, but was faced with the same look. "What's wrong with you two?" Pan asked. "Is something wrong?"

"You're dad doesn't want me to be your boyfriend…and I'm not sure that I would be good enough for you anyway," Trunks answered sadly.

"And I let Charles into the house. I showed him around and in turn allowed him to kidnap you."

"What?!" Pan yelled outraged, "You let him kidnap me?"

"No, it wasn't intentional, Pan! When I let him in, he wanted to look around to make sure I wasn't lying about you being here. He saw the whole house, saw where he could come in and everything. I showed him where your room was…and what happened? He abducted you from your room. I'm a terrible father," Gohan said, his voice cracking towards the end.

"Oh, honey," Videl said. She wrapped her arms around Gohan and held him for a few minutes. Then they heard a knock at the front door. They all went to the living room and Videl went to the front door and opened it.

"Ma'am, we have a warrant to search this house."

Gohan jumped up from the couch and went to stand by Videl at the front door. Trunks jumped up as well and was moving towards Pan, intending to take her to the hidden room in the basement, when the policemen kicked the door open wider.

"I want to see that warrant," Videl said tersely. A policeman handed her the warrant and walked towards Pan. She latched onto Trunks when she saw the familiar fat, old man named Charles walk in behind the last of the officers. 

"Officers, my daughter was kidnapped from me quite a few weeks ago. That boy," Charles said pointing to Trunks, "Is the one who took her. These people have been keeping her hostage here."

"No!" Pan yelled as a policeman snatched her away from Trunks. "I wanted to be here!"

"I think," Charles said to Pan, "That we'd better take you to a hospital, dear. Who knows what they have done to you. They've probably raped you!"

Gohan grabbed one of the officers by the arm. "Officer, we didn't kidnap her. She wanted to come here. We are her biological parents and she wanted to stay with us, please don't take her. You don't know what that man has done to her!"

"Save it for the courts sir." He tipped his hat to Videl. "Good day Ma'am."

Gohan, Videl, and Trunks stood frozen to the spot. Joey walked into the living room. "Mommy?"

Joey's voice woke Videl back up and she stormed out of the house after the police. "Hey! That's our daughter! That man beats her."

Charles turned around and the rest of the police stopped and turned around as well. "Ma'am," Charles said, "I don't think you should be accusing me of beating her. Why, just look at all the cuts and bruises here on her face! I haven't seen her in so long, how could I have done it? She has been staying here with you for many weeks. Only you could have done this to my dear, sweet daughter." He stroked Pan's cheek lovingly. Pan flinched.

"But you kidnapped her!" Videl said, losing her initial anger as she realized that Charles was turning everything against them.

Charles chuckled. "You have it backwards. You kidnapped my daughter. I didn't kidnap her."

"Either way," a police officer said, "We have to take this young man into custody." He grabbed Trunks and began reading him his rights. 

"We'll bail you out Trunks, we'll come and get you," Gohan said. Pan started crying and Charles took her away from the house.

Trunks was handcuffed and forced into the police car. Once inside, he looked back out at Videl, Gohan, and Joey, all shocked at the chaos. Gohan never once took his eyes off of Pan. He watched his only daughter be put into the car of the man who claimed to be her father, the same man who had beaten her all her life and who had, not to long ago, raped her mercilessly countless times. Gohan watched as Charles' car drove out of their driveway followed by a squad of police cars. Silently, Gohan cursed Charles and swore revenge on him for his daughter. 

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Muhahahahahaha! Cliffhanger! I'm sorry you guys, I know you guys want to know what Gohan does to Charles! I know you all hate Charles but I just had to leave you with this cliffhanger lol. Okay, hopefully the next chapter will be out soon. See ya!

~Lady Branwen~ 


	15. Chapter 15

I don't own DBZ, duh! That's why I'm writing on FANfiction.net. ^_^

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Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 15

Charles drove Pan back to their little hut. Pan sat as quietly as she could while she was in the car. "If I don't say or do anything, he won't have a cause to hurt me," was all that Pan thought. He said not a word to her, didn't even look at her. Once they were inside, Charles grabbed Pan by her arm roughly and led her back to her room. He threw her inside and said, "If you behave like a little girl should, then maybe I'll feed you. Oh, and by the way, don't keep that silly hope of yours that they will be saving you anytime soon. I've gotten a restraining order against them." With that, he left and locked the door behind himself.

Pan looked around at her familiar pink room, saw her bed, just as she had left it so long ago. Pan walked over to her bed dejectedly and took out the journal she had hidden in her purse. She never wanted to lose it and she wanted to carry it around with her wherever she went, that was why she had put it in her purse. 

"I guess it was a good idea I did that," she muttered.

She sat on her bed and started writing in it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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Today Trunks gave me this journal and I really like it. No one has ever really given me a present. I'll treasure this for the rest of my life, even if I never see Trunks again. 

Speaking of Trunks, I read his journal. He said so many sweet things in there. He said that he wants to protect me from everything that might happen. Too bad he didn't today, because now I'm back here on the farm. I don't blame him though. He was arrested thanks to this man who has pretended to be my father for so many years. I know both my real father and Trunks will find me again and help me somehow. They both love me so much and I'm grateful for that. I've never really known what love felt like until I got it from my real family and Trunks. They were so caring compared to this guy…I don't even really know what to call him anymore.

So now I'm kidnapped again, and Charles, I guess is what I'll call him, has the police on his side. I hope my mom an dad can some way find a loophole and can come and get me. Dad must be so mad right now. He'll probably kill Charles. I don't care though. Dad's so overprotective, but in a way, I don't mind because I've only been hurt throughout my life, not protected. I'm not used to it. When I was at the house, I just wanted Dad to leave me alone and get out of my room, but now that he's not here with me, I miss him and want him here.

I'll have to talk to Trunks using my telepathy. At least I'll have that comfort. Before, I didn't have a friend to talk to, but now I know I do. I love Trunks too.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pan closed her journal, not sure what else she wanted to write, and put it back in her bag. 

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gohan and Videl kept true to their word and bailed me out of jail. Mom is going to be so mad when she finds out that I went to jail and now have a police record. But Dad, well, I think he might end up being proud of me just this once. I'm still staying at Gohan's house. He is the worst I have ever seen him and there is really no way to describe him. He's just a walking ball of emotion. I mean, obviously he is angry, sad, ready to kill, lost, and just a little insane at the moment. He just keeps wandering around the house and always ends up in Pan's room, just looking at the bed, then he wanders around the house again. Personally, I think he's planning something. We're all worried about him, especially Videl. She has been trying nonstop for the past three days to get him to calm down. He won't stop, even at night, so she has to coerce him to go to bed. 

I even tried asking him if he wants to spar. I know I'll get hurt, but if it will take away some of his pain and I'm still alive at the end of it, then that's all right with me. But, he just ignores me and everyone else in the house. Goku came and tried to get Gohan to talk, but it was no use, he won't talk to anyone. He has to be planning something. I wish I knew what it was.

Pan contacted me the day Charles took her. She told me he hasn't done anything to her yet, he just locked her in her room. But since that day, I haven't heard from her again. I'm really worried about her, because I can't sense anything through our bond either. 

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It's later tonight and I was just dreaming about Pan. She was scared and the dream was still a little fuzzy like all the other ones, but that's okay. I showed her in the dream some moves that she could use to tackle Charles or to get away from him. I hope they will work. Oh, what am I saying? She's Gohan's kid! She has an inbred sense to fight. In the dream, she understood what to do and when she did those things to me, it worked. At least she learns quickly. I just hope that she won't have to use any of those techniques, but knowing Charles, she probably will have to. Tomorrow I think I will have to tell Gohan about this dream, if nothing else but to reassure him that Pan knows how to defend herself at least a little. 

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I don't know how much longer I can last. Ever since a few days ago when I was brought back here, Charles hasn't given me any food whatsoever. I haven't even heard him in the house once sine I've been here. If only those idiot policemen knew what they've done to me. If they only knew that I'm not being given any water or food. I have to drink out of the faucet in the little bathroom next to my room and that's all I have to keep me sane. I just have to remember that at least I have a bathroom and I'm not dead and I have to be grateful for that. But it's just so hard to be thankful for being alive when I'm here, with no food and thinking that soon I will be dead because of starvation. I don't even allow myself to talk to Trunks. It's been five days since I last contacted him. Last time I came to him in a dream and he showed me how to defend myself. It was a nice thought, but Charles is so much heavier and stronger than I am I don't see how any of this will work, especially since Charles isn't even here.

I miss my family. My REAL family. They have treated me better than I have ever been treated in my entire life. And I found my one true love while I was away from this place. I never even hoped that I would get away from here, but now that I have, I know that there are better people out there in the world and things don't have to be the way they are in this house. I love my life away from here. My mom is so nice, she always takes me with her when she goes shopping. She's so cool. My dad, well, what can I say about him? He's so overprotective, but I'd rather have him being overprotective than punching me. I love him too. And Joey, he's so sweet. Trunks. What I wouldn't give to have him hold me again. I know he wanted to before, but I just wouldn't let him. Even if he were here right now, I'm not sure if I would let him. I want a hug from him so much, but I don't know if I can handle that. 

I hope that I'll get out of here soon. I don't want anything to come between me and my family ever again. I've had enough of being apart from the people who truly love me and who wouldn't hurt me for any reason. I miss you all. I don't know how much longer I can go without food. I'm so hungry…

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"Gohan, where are you going?" Goku asked the apparently demented Gohan. 

"Out."

Videl rose up out her seat on the couch. "Oh, Gohan, don't. You'll get arrested." She walked cautiously up to Gohan who was now pulling his coat on. He only pushed her away.

"I have to. Don't you understand that my little girl is out there? Who knows what he is doing to her now. I'm going to go and get her."

"But Gohan, then you really will be kidnapping Pan!" Trunks exclaimed. "You can't do that! Charles will only use that against you."

Gohan shook his head. "No, you don't understand. She is MY daughter. Once we go to court, we can get a DNA test and that will prove that she is mine and Videl's daughter. Plus, we still have those photos of her bruised and bleeding body. Now if that doesn't convince a judge to give her back to us, I don't know what will. Now, I'm going to go and get her, and no one is going to stop me." He threw a threatening look to every person in the room to dare to stop him. No one moved. Goku stood resolutely with his arm still across the door, blocking Gohan's way out. Gohan's glare finally rested on him and it was a few seconds before Goku gave up and let Gohan leave.

"Oh, Goku, you have to do something," Chi-Chi begged. "He's not all there. Who knows what he will do!"

Goku sighed. "I can't. I have to let him do this."

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__

"Let's see him try to get past me," Gohan thought to himself. 

In no time, he had landed very near to the farm where he knew Pan was being kept. It was the same that Trunks had saved her from. The wind was cold and whipped his face as he stood looking at the little hut in the distance. Then he turned and looked at the neighboring farm, only a few yards away. 

He looked once more at the hut and said, "I'll be right back, Pan." 

Gohan walked to the neighboring farm and knocked on the door. He heard some shuffling and a frail old woman opened the door.

"Hello there, young man, how can I help you?" Her eyes were squinted so that she could see Gohan better. She was maybe 4'5" tall at the most and just a little on the plump side and had wrinkles etched deeply into her face, but she had a kind and warm smile.

"Good evening, ma'am. I came here to ask you about your neighbor named Charles."

"Oh! That man! He's always yelling," she answered. "Please, come in dear, it's a little chilly outside."

Gohan stepping into the house and sat down into a large and comfortable chair once she had invited him to. 

"What is your name, dear?"

"My name is Gohan, ma'am."

"Well then, Gohan, what would you like to know?"

"Actually, I wanted to know about how he treats his daughter?"

"Oh…well, not very well I'm afraid. Why do you ask?"

Gohan shifted in his chair. "I'm her father," he said seriously. "My wife gave Pan up for adoption when she was born. Charles adopted her and brought her here. I want to regain custody of my child, but Charles has turned the police against me and he is trying to keep Pan. When Pan came to us, there were bruises on her and Charles came and kidnapped her while she was staying with us. When we saved her, she was very badly beaten, raped, bleeding, the worst that you can imagine. That was close to a little over a week ago that we got her back, but about 5 days ago, the police came with Charles and he took her away from us and accused us of beating her."

The old woman nodded. "If I didn't know better, I would have thought that you were lying to me. But, I myself have seen what has been done to that poor girl, so I know there is at least a little truth to what you are telling me. I remember back when Charles brought home a beautiful baby girl. He was single, not much luck with the ladies, but he desperately wanted a child. I don't know how he adopted her, I understand that it is very hard to do so and the agencies look for two parents, not one. You do look like Pan though. I can see you two share a few features. She's a very beautiful girl."

Gohan smiled. "Thank you. So, you have seen what he has done to her?"

"Well, I've only seen him slap her a few times, but I have heard her screams many, many times."

Fury bubbled inside of Gohan, but as calmly as he could, he asked, "Why didn't you do anything about it? You could have called the police."

"Oh, but I did, dear," she replied. "Probably not as often as I should have, but I did call in a few times."

Gohan shook his head and placed it in his hands. "I don't understand how an agency who claims to do so much checking up on people who are trying to adopt, would allow this kind of person to adopt a child. Even if he was a good person way back when she was born, what could have happened to make him become like this? The agency had to have checked on him once he had gotten Pan, why didn't they see this?"

"He treated her like a princess when she was a little girl. Right up until she was seven, I believe. Around that age was when I first started hearing her screams."

"Would you testify to this in a court?"

"Yes, yes, of course. My name is Francine Maktahi."

Gohan said goodbye to Francine and walked back to Charles' farm. He knocked loudly on the door.

"Hey!" he heard Pan's voice calling on the other side of the house. "Over, here! Come around to the back of the house! Please!"

__

"She sounds weak," Gohan thought fearfully. _"I hope nothing is wrong with her."_

He did as she instructed and saw a light through one of the opened windows. Inside, he saw Pan pacing back and forth.

"Pan!" He said as he ran to the window.

"Daddy! The window is stuck. I think he glued it down or something. Please, open it!"

Gohan easily opened it and lifted Pan out and cradled her in his arms.

"I…need food," Pan whispered and fainted in his arms, just like she had when he rescued her the last time. Gohan took off into the air and flew back home.

From her window, Francine watched all that had unfolded at Charles' house. Her kitchen window was directly in line with Pan's bedroom window and she saw father and daughter reunite. She watched as Gohan flew in the air back towards his home and thought, "_I'm glad that poor girl got out of there,"_ and sighed. 

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	16. Chapter 16

Hey guys! Here's the next chapter, and we're starting with them being in court. This takes place maybe around 4 days after the last chapter, just so you all know. Okay, that's it, I hope you like it!

~Lady Branwen~

***I thought I gave Charles a last name, but I couldn't remember it or find it in the story, so I made one up again here. If you guys know what it is, let me know and I'll change it, thanks!

I don't own DBZ

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Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 16

"Do you have a lawyer present?" The judge asked Gohan. 

It was the day of the court hearing and everyone Gohan even remotely knew had shown up. Goku, Chi-Chi, Ox King, Master Roshi, Trunks, Vegeta, Bra, Puar, Oolong, and Baba to name a few. All of the Z fighters were there, even Dende who disguised himself the best he could so that no one would recognize him as God. Videl and Trunks sat next to him because they were also being tried in court.

"Yes, she's here," Gohan replied. He looked across the table at the other side of the room where Charles was sitting. Pan sat behind him sullenly.

"Well, is she in the courtroom or what? We don't have all day you know," the judge said testily. 

At that moment, Bulma walked into the courtroom, briefcase in hand. "Sorry I'm late, your honor," she said. She walked past the gates and sat down next to Gohan nearest the aisle.

"What is this? You're not a lawyer! You are Bulma Brief."

"Be that as it may, I am here today to represent my good friend. I understand that this is acceptable and it would also be acceptable for Gohan to represent himself if he so chose."

The judge sighed. "Fine, let's get on with it. Mr. Hahn, please start with your opening comments."

Charles' lawyer cleared his throat and stood up from his seat next to Charles. "Your honor and people of the jury, this is a clean cut case." His voice was deep and he wore a charming smile on his face to disarm everyone. "These people," he turned and gestured to Gohan, Videl, and Trunks, "kidnapped my client, Charles Miller's daughter. There is proof, even from their own neighbors that Mr. Miller's daughter was seen there suddenly, without any forewarning. There is also more indisputable proof that they kidnapped her. Their counter suit against my client is frivolous at the least. But, we will prove that soon enough." He walked back to his seat and sat down smirking.

Bulma glared at him over her glasses, then got up and walked over to the jury. "Some things were done by my clients that may seem at first to be wrong, but throughout this hearing, you will be told the reasons why they did them. There are reasons why Pan, Mr. Miller's daughter, was taken from him and I am sure that most of you would agree that had you been in my client's position, you would have done the same." Bulma nodded to the jury, then to the judge and sat back down. She leaned over to Gohan and whispered, "Short and sweet. I wanted to save my speeches for when we summon the witnesses." Gohan nodded.

"Mrs. Brief, please call up your first witness."

"I call upon Videl Satan, your honor."

Videl walked to the bailiff, swore in, then sat down on the podium. Bulma stood up and walked over to Videl. 

"Mrs. Satan, what happened to you about 14 years ago?"

"Objection, your honor," Mr. Hahn cut in.

"Your honor," Bulma said, "I'm asking this for a reason that will be made clear later on in the hearing."

"Overruled. You may continue."

"Thank you. Please answer the question, Mrs. Satan."

Videl shifted nervously. "I got pregnant."

"By whom?"

"Gohan."

"Can you say his full name and point him out to us?"

"His name is Gohan Son. He's sitting over there," she said pointing to Gohan. He smiled at her lovingly.

"And what was the baby? A boy? A girl?"

"A girl."

"What did you name her?"

"I named her Pan."

"Is she here in court today?"

"Yes."

"Point her out please."

Videl lifted her finger up and pointed to where Pan was sitting, wide-eyed and afraid. There were nervous whispers in the courtroom and the judge called order.

"Objection! There is no proof that my client's child is the same as their child."

"That brings me to Exhibit 1. DNA results that were taken from Pan to prove who the real parent is."

The bailiff walked over to Bulma and took the package out of her hand and gave it to Judge Swartz. He opened the envelope and took out a few papers and looked them over. "I would like the jury to take note that the DNA results prove that Pan is the daughter of Gohan Son and Videl Satan." 

"What happened to your daughter?" Bulma asked.

"I was afraid that my father would be angry with me. I had had Pan out of wedlock. I gave her up for adoption about a week after I had her." Tears welled in Videl's eyes just thinking about all the mess she had caused.

"Do you know Charles Miller?"

"No. I've just met him a few times recently. I don't really know him."

"And how would you describe him?"

"He seems to be kind, but you'd have to be really dumb not to notice that he's always thinking about something else."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, he just always looks like he is plotting."

"I have no further questions."

Bulma sat back down. 

"Your witness, Mr. Hahn." 

Mr. Hahn still sat in his chair, leaning back and thinking what to do about this new development. Finally, he got up and walked over to Videl and stood looking at her for what seemed like forever. "Mrs. Satan, what exactly happened? These past couple of months when you allegedly kidnapped my client's daughter, I mean. Tell me what you know happened." He leaned his arm against the podium.

"Well, I was sitting at home one day and Gohan came rushing in the house telling me that he wanted me to meet someone. I was in the kitchen and I walked out and into our living room and saw that he had a girl with him. When he introduced us, he told me that he name was Pan. She looked so much like us thought I was sure that she had to be my daughter. We offered to let her stay with us and we gave her a room to sleep in. Then a few days later, Mr. Miller showed up and claimed that his daughter was with us."

"And she was wasn't she? What did you tell him?"

"I didn't know for sure if he was actually talking about the girl in our house. He never said any specific name, but he did demand to be shown around." Videl glared at Charles, she was still mad at him for that. "Then Pan was taken away and when I saw her again, she told me that Charles had taken her from our house. She told us that he had put her in the trunk of a car and kept her in a hut in the country and did terrible things to her." Videl looked at Pan sadly and Pan began to cry softly.

Mr. Hahn looked at Pan then to Charles who sat ignoring the crying girl behind him. "And then what happened, Mrs. Satan?" 

"A few days after she came back, Charles showed up with the police and accused us of kidnapping her. Charles took her with him and he accused Trunks Brief of initially kidnapping Pan and Trunks was arrested."

"And after that?"

"My husband went and took her from Charles' house. She had been unconscious when Gohan got her back to our house and she was starving when she woke up. We had to feed her. Then two days later, Charles returned with the police again and she was taken from us. My husband was put in jail until I could bail him out."

"So you admit that your husband did, at least this third time, kidnap Pan from my client's home?"

Videl pursed her lips, then burst out, barely able to control herself. "She wanted to be with us. She has had a terrible life, she would be better off with us."

"Ma'am, even if that were true, that does not give you any right to kidnap someone else's child."

"She's my child! I finally got her back and found out what has happened to her and I hear that she has had such a crappy life! I want to protect her from the scum who did that to her. Is that so wrong? I'm family, real family. I care about her safety and well being. He doesn't!"

Mr. Hahn sighed. "Thank you, Mrs. Satan. I have no further questions."

The judge leaned over to Videl and said, "You may step down now. Mr. Hahn, please call up your witness."

"Your honor, I call upon Robert Miller."

Charles' brother strode up to the podium and was sworn in before he sat down heavily in the chair. He was just as heavy set as his brother, with the same beady eyes and cunning look on his face. "Now Robert, may I call you Robert?"

"Sure can."

"Robert, can you tell us a little about your brother Charles?"

"Well," he leaned his elbows against the wall in front of him. "Charles is quite a nice guy. He tends to our little plot of land. It's really his, but he shares it with me because I can't get any work. He's always helping people out. He shares with me a lot. He's a kind soul." 

"And what about his daughter?"

"Oh, she's just as sweet as he is. Nicest girl you'll ever meet." 

"You know who his daughter is, don't you?"

"Yep."

"Please point her out for us."

Robert pointed to Pan. "That's her."

"Thank you. How long has she been staying with your brother, sir?"

"All her life as far as I know. He got her when she was real small. She was a baby when he got her. Sweet thing she is." He licked his lips as he looked at her. Videl jumped in her chair and pounded her fist on the table, staring Robert down. Many people turned to stare at her little outburst, including a shocked Robert, but he sure knew better than to do that again! 

Mr. Hahn cleared his throat and continued, "So, would you say that your brother has been more of a parent to her than anyone else because she's lived with him all her life?"

"Objection!" Bulma stood up. "He's leading the witness."

"Sustained. Mr. Miller, disregard that last question." 

"From what you have seen of how your brother interacts with his daughter, how would you say he treats her?"

"Oh, quite good! For living there on a farm, she's treated like a princess. She does have to help work on the farm though, but she gets paid for her work. If she don't work, she doesn't get paid, but she still gets treated like a princess. My brother just loves his little girl."

"Thank you, no further questions."

"Your witness, Mrs. Brief," Judge Swartz said.

"Hello Mr. Miller," Bulma greeted.

"Hello. Don't you look pretty today?" he said. A loud and ominous growl was heard from Vegeta and echoed off of the walls. Robert visibly gulped.

"Th-Thank you…" Bulma said absently because she was still looking at Vegeta. _"Wow, I never thought that he cared abot me THAT much…" _She shook her head and said, "Mr. Miller, have you ever seen your brother, Charles, hit his daughter?"

"Well, a few times, but it wasn't hitting, it was spanking. It was when she was little and she used to get into trouble. Nothing wrong with spanking, though. A lot of people do that."

"So, you say that you've never seen him actually hit her other than spanking? You didn't see him hit her with any objects? And please remember that you are under oath."

"Nope. As far as I know, he hasn't hit her."

"What did he do to her when she was bad? Recently, I mean. You said before that he spanked her when she was little. What does he do now?"

"He grounds her. Sometimes he locks her in her room because she has a temper and has broken expensive things when she got mad."

"What?!" Pan cried. Charles turned around and glared at her and she sank back into her seat quietly. People closest to him that were in the jury eyed him suspiciously.

"Has he done anything else to her other than locking her in her room?"

"Not really. She couldn't watch TV or talk on the phone."

"Well, that sounds normal enough to me. How frequently did you visit your brother?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe twice a week, but sometimes it would be more or less."

"How often was Pan grounded, do you know?"

"Not that often," Robert replied. He sat back into the chair and folded his arms across his large stomach. "Only every once in a while."

"Have you ever noticed anything out of the ordinary on Pan? Bruises? Gashes? Anything like that?"

"A few bruises, but your bound to get some of those on the farm. Charles never let her near any of the machinery so I don't think she ever got cut."

"Hmm…" was all Bulma said. She brought her hand up to her face and smoothed a hair out of her face. "How often was she locked up? Was that mostly every time she was grounded, or did that only happen in extreme cases?"

"Well, see, she just recently started breaking things, maybe like a year ago. She only gets in trouble every two months or so, probably not even that." 

"Okay," Bulma replied. "Thank you, I have no further questions." 

"You may step down now, Mr. Miller. Please call up your next witness Mrs. Brief."

"I would like to call Mrs. Francine Maktahi to the stand."

Francine slowly stood up and made her way like a turtle to the podium. Charles watched her intently as she was sworn in and took her seat.

"Hello Mrs. Maktahi," Bulma said. 

"Please, dear, call me Francine."

"Okay, Francine, please tell the court what your relation to Mr. Charles Miller is."

"I'm his neighbor."

"Okay an-"

"But I am also his mother."

Bulma stood frozen and stared at Francine. Whispering was again heard in the court room and Mr. Hahn immediately started talking to Charles.

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	17. Chapter 17

Hey all, sorry for such the long wait, but if you read my profile you would know my reasons why. Anyway, I've updated THIS chapter and that should make all of you happy! ^_^ Okay, there were some questions from you guys and I'll answer them now. 

To Son Marron 2k5: You didn't have a question, but I wanted to talk to you anyway. ^_^ The way I was thinking of the story, it wasn't a custody battle because Charles had accused them (Gohan, Videl & Trunks) of kidnapping Pan so I was doing this in the way that they would do a kidnapping case. Gohan and Videl made a counter-suit against Charles and accused him of not being a good father and they wanted to take custody of her since they were her real parents anyway. So when I saw what you wrote, I decided because of their counter-suit, that you are right and it has turned into a custody battle and I will delete the jury soon. ^_^ And about Pan being 14 in GT, I didn't know, I thought she was a lot younger. She looks so small in the pictures, and pictures are all I know about GT except for the fact that Goku gets wished back. 

To Kutie_pan: There are only a few questions I can answer for you, all the rest will be answered in the coming chapters. You have to be patient! Lol. Okay, no, this story isn't based on a real story. I did however get the idea from a story I read about someone having a dream about someone and then actually finding them, so whoever in the world wrote that, you get some credit. The other question about why Pan was sitting with Charles in the courtroom has already been answered in my story. After Gohan took her back after talking to Francine, Charles came with the police again and Gohan was put in jail. So now Pan is in Charles' custody and he is making her sit with him. For your other questions, I've planned everything out, I know what is going to go in each of the chapters, and I had already thought of all of that, so you will find out soon (hopefully, right? Lol). 

Okay, enough of my blabbering, on with the story, since this is what you all have been waiting for! ^_^

~Lady Branwen~

I don't own DBZ/GT

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Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 17

"You're his mother?!" Bulma excalimed. 

"That's right," Francine answered.

Bulma glanced over at Gohan who only shrugged in reply. Bulma cleared her throat and turned back towards Francine as the people in the court quieted down to hear what was being said. "May I ask why you have decided to testify against your own son?"

Francine shifted in her chair and looked at Charles, then to Pan sitting behind him. "I'm testifying against him because I do not believe anything he has said that these kind people had kidnapped her. He is known to be a liar in our family."

"I see."

"I've seen the way he treats my granddaughter and I want her to be safe."

"What exactly have you seen?"

"I have seen him hitting Pan with his fists, with broom sticks, a lot of things that he shouldn't be hitting her with at all."

"What else have you seen, assuming there is anything else?"

"My son smokes. Every so often, by accident I have seen burn marks in the shape of a cigarette on Pan's arms or legs. I can only assume that my son made them because I know Pan doesn't smoke."

"How can you be sure that she doesn't?"

"Charles has offered her cigarettes, but she says that she doesn't like them."

Bulma nodded and looked quickly over at Pan. "Do you go over their house often?"

"I wouldn't consider it often, no. But I do get to see to their house out of my kitchen window. I have seen my poor granddaughter crying so many times."

"When you have seen him do these things, did he know that you saw him? Were you there or were you watching out of your kitchen window?"

"Well, a few times he did spank her in front of me, he always made sure to tone his punishments down when there were other people present. But if Pan did something that Charles did not like and there was no one around, he would beat her and I would see that from my kitchen window. My kitchen window only allows me to see inside Pan's room, though. So I haven't seen everything. I've only heard her scream the other times."

"And what do you know about my clients?"

"Nothing really. Mr. Son came to my house one day and was very eager to ask me about Charles and how he treated Pan."

"And what did you tell him?"

"The same things I have just told you. Mr. Son seemed very concerned about Pan and after he left I went to look and see how Pan was doing. She had been trapped in her room for a long time and there was nothing I could do to help her as I didn't have a key to Charles' house." 

"Why not? I would think that Charles would have given you a key to keep so that you could get in. You are his mother after all and his neighbor."

"I'll tell you why, dear. Charles changed his name because I disowned him. He has always been in trouble, though he was never caught by the police. This was all while he was still young. He would steal from a few of the stores in town and he did it quite often, but he always left the impression of a sweet boy who never did anything wrong and so he got away with it. Later, I had had enough and as soon as he turned 18 and I didn't have to take care of him any longer, I disowned him. He was a disgrace to the family. I had been raised with high morals and standards and having a son who stole for whatever it is he wanted, just didn't suit me and I didn't want any part of him. 

"Years later, Charles came to visit me and he told me he had just bought the farm next to mine. He told me that he had been reborn and wanted to start a brand new life, free of stealing and doing wrong. He wanted to start things all over with life and myself. I believed him and I started treating him like my son again, for he didn't steal and he became a good boy. Charles decided to get a new identity along with his new life. His original name was Benjimin Maktahi, but he then changed it to Charles Miller. He adopted Pan and everything was going well until around her seventh birthday when things started to go wrong and I started to hear her screams. One day she ran to my house and cried in my lap for a long time. She showed me a giant bruise on her leg and told me that her father had hit her. Just then, Charles came in and took her back to their house. Since then, we haven't been on very good terms and I don't like to acknowledge him as my son. But ever since then, I would occasionally go over to their house and talk to Pan while her father was out working on the farm and I would out bandages on her wounds and talk to her. I always offered to let her stay with me, but she would always refuse. I think that she was afraid that Charles wouldn't let her."

"So I take it that you do not want to see Pan stay with Charles."

"No."

"Do you think that Gohan Son and Videl Satan would be better parents?"

"Objection, your honor! She's leading the witness," Mr. Hahn interrupted.

"Sustained."

"I'll rephrase the question then," Bulma said, very annoyed that Mr. Hahn had interrupted her. "Do you know of anyone who would be better parents to your granddaughter?"

"Yes. Anyone other than my son. I'm sure that Mr. Son would be a lovely father, but I just haven't been around him enough to be certain that he would not hit her. But I do think that he would be a better parent not only because he is not Charles, but because that night that I talked to him, he was concerned about Pan's safety, like a true parent should be."

"Thank you, Mrs. Maktahi. I have no further questions."

"Your witness, Mr. Hahn," Judge Swartz said.

He stood up and walked slowly to the podium, thinking what he could ask that would get an answer favorable to his client. "Mrs. Maktahi, do you really know if Charles Miller beat his daughter? Or are you just assuming?"

"I've seen it."

"You said you saw him beating her through the kitchen window, correct?"

"Yes."

"Isn't your house some distance away from your son's house?"

"Yes."

"Forgive me for being rude, but I do have to point this out. You are not in your younger years. Many people start to lose their eyesight in their old age."

Francine seemed a bit ruffled, but answered, "That's true. I know what I saw though because even if I couldn't read a sign that distance away, I can still see motions."

Mr. Hahn bowed his head and walked away and past the gates to a police officer at the back of the court and slung his arm over Greg's shoulders. "Sorry about this, Greg," he whispered. Calling back to Francine he said, "Mrs. Maktahi, please tell me what you see. Do I have my arm leisurely thrown over my good friend Greg's shoulder's or do I have him in a lethal choke hold?" 

Francine squinted her eyes to see better. "In a choke hold," she said confidently. 

Bulma groaned in agitation.

"Okay, how about now?" He moved his arm to put a choke hold on the officer.

"You have that poor man in an even tighter choke hold!"

"Your wrong, Mrs. Maktahi. This is a rather loose choke hold. Before, I just had my arm slung over this officer's shoulders. Remember Mrs. Maktahi, the distance from your kitchen window to Pan's bedroom window is most probably a greater distance than the length of this courtroom. You have a farm in between your two houses."

"It's not the farm itself. I have my vegetable garden outside of my window and that goes on for about 30 feet, then there is the dividing line of our two farms. Then about 6 feet after that is their house. Our houses are closer together than most farm houses are."

"Even so, that makes 36 feet that you have to see and that is quite a long distance to see someone beating someone up. I understand that what you have heard and supposedly seen would go together and point to my client beating his daughter, but you have to admit, there is a chance that what you think you saw, isn't really what happened, right?"

"I suppose," Francine answered grudgingly. 

"No further questions."

"You may call up your next witness, Mr. Hahn."

"I would like to call Caroline Hawthorn to the stand."

Caroline was sworn in and sat down nervously in her seat. 

"Mrs. Hawthorn, what is your relationship to the defendants?"

"I am their neighbor."

"Do you know them very well?"

"Yes, we invite each other over to dinner on a regular basis. We're good friends."

"Did they tell you that they were going to get their daughter back? I would think that that would be fairly big news and would be gossiped about. Did you ever hear anything about that?"

"No, I was never told about Pan coming back to them, though Videl did tell me that she had a daughter that she gave up for adoption. She seemed sad about it, which I don't blame her. Videl told me about Pan a long time ago, long before any of this ever happened."

"When you did finally see Pan at their house, did they tell you about her?"

"No, they seemed to be so overjoyed and wanted to make up for lost time, I thought. I didn't want to go over to their house and bother them. I knew that eventually I would meet the girl."

"So, they never told you specifically that this girl over here," he pointed to Pan, "was their daughter, you only assumed that it was."

"Well, yes. I don't see any other reason why they would be so happy to see a girl who looks remarkably like them…"

"Did you see when the girl first arrived at the house?"

Caroline sat still in her chair, not saying a word.

"I'll ask again, did you see when the girl first arrived at the house? Please remember you are under oath Mrs. Hawthorn."

Caroline sighed and looked hesitantly over at Gohan, Videl, and Trunks. "Yes I did."

"And? Was she struggling?"

"No."

"Was she happy?"

"I'm not sure, I couldn't see very well."

"What did you see?"

Again, Caroline stayed quiet. Judge Swartz leaned over and said, "Please answer the question, Mrs. Hawthorn."

"I saw that purple hair boy flying with Pan in his arms. Then he and Pan stood talking to Gohan and his son before they went inside a few minutes later."

The courtroom was silent and Videl, Trunks, and Gohan's mouth hung open in shock. Everyone who knew them and knew that Trunks could fly looked slowly over at him.

Vegeta leaned over the rail and berated Trunks. "How could you be so careless, boy? You know these pathetic humans don't know how to fly and they don't even believe in it!"

"Shut up, Vegeta! That's the exact reason why no one will believe her," Bulma hissed.

"Fl-Flying? You expect us to believe, Mrs. Hawthorn, that that boy over there flew to the Son house?"

"Well, that's what I saw and you want me to tell you what I saw. I'm sorry if you don't like it," Caroline said calmly, but defensively.

"Did you see anything else?"

"No."

"No further questions."

Mr. Hahn went and sat back down and Charles immediately leaned over. "Is this going well?" he whispered. "There seems to be too much bullshit going on in this courtroom. You didn't even question her further about the boy flying."

"Why would I?" Mr. Hahn asked. "He couldn't have been flying, no one can."

"Well, when he kidnapped Pan, he picked her up and flew away."

Mr. Hahn shook his head and groaned. "Mr. Miller, I don't know what is going on here, but no one can fly."

"I saw him," Charles said through clenched teeth.

"If you say something like that up on the stand, our case is over. You will be thought of as a lunatic, just like Mrs. Hawthorn. No one will believe anything you say. Now, if you don't say anything out of the ordinary, we'll do just fine."

"You're witness Mrs. Brief," Judge Swartz called out.

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Okay, there you go! Now, I'm going to warn you, I will be updating less frequently from now on because I'm starting school. I started yesterday, so I just want you all to know about that. Anyway, I wanted to ask a question not related to the story…Does anyone know of a place online that will make cds for you? Like a cd burner? I have some songs I want to burn, but I don't have a burner now. You can find almost anything on the net, so I was wondering if anyone knows of a site like that? Okay, I'm pretty sure next chapter will take place a week or so after today because I don't want to have to go through all of the witnesses, so next chapter might just start off with like Trunks or Charles or some kind of important character to all of this. We're getting near the end :( Okay, see ya next time! 

~Lady Branwen~ 


	18. Chapter 18

Hey, I'm back!  Yay!  Okay, I know this has taken a reeeeaaaaaallly long time to update, and I have to say….I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!  I know how you guys feel, going through story withdrawal and all of that.  So I'm really sorry about the lack of updates, but to be fair, you can't really expect me to update very often when I have three big assignments to do in just one class, plus the other assignments.  So…yeah, that's my excuse.  Lol. 

Okay, since it has been almost 2 months ^_^;; since the last update, I'll get right to the story.  

~Lady Branwen~

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Disclaimer: You know the drill, I own nothing.

Girl of My Dreams

_Chapter 18_

Trunks' mind wandered as he sat in his seat sullenly.  

_"Why do I have to be here? This is dumb.  We're trying to save Pan and we get put on trial!"_

Trunks looked around the room at the people who had shown up.  Everyone was there lending support to Gohan and Videl.  

_"Everyone knows Gohan would never hurt anything unless he absolutely has to.  My dad, you could say that he would kill someone if they looked at him funny…in fact, he probably would, but Gohan…he wouldn't do anything.  How can anyone accuse him of hurting his own daughter?"_

His gaze fell on Videl.  She sat with her arms crossed.  She appeared to be watching Bulma gathering her notes, but Trunks knew that Videl was really looking beyond Bulma to where Pan was sitting, watching to make sure Charles didn't lay a finger on her.

Gohan appeared to be deep in thought

Trunks stopped looking around and turned his gaze inward.

_"If I hadn't have had that dream, none of this would have happened.  I'm not sorry for it though.  Pan is the best thing that has ever happened to me and she has brought so much joy to the Son family.  I don't think anyone can grasp how much they love her.  I just wish…I wish that maybe when I had had the dream and went looking for her, I wouldn't have kidnapped her.  I couldn't think of what else to do at the time, but maybe I could have done something different, that way we wouldn't be here now and maybe Pan would be safe at home with her real parents."_

_"Trunks, I'm glad you saved me."  Pan whispered to him through their bond.  __"I could very easily have died that day that you saved me.  Don't forget, he was coming at me with a knife.  He had every intention of killing me I bet.  Please don't hate yourself for us being here.  It gets me away from the house and if I'm not alone with him in the house, that means he won't hurt me."_

Trunks sighed and leaned back in his chair casually and looked over at Pan sitting across the room.  She was looking at him with a slight smile on her face. 

_"I love you," he said._

She smiled broadly at him, then looked down at her hands and didn't look back up again, but the smile stayed.

"Caroline, have the Sons ever given you a reason to believe that they would harm a child?"

Trunks' mother's voice shocked him back to reality and he sat up straight in his chair to pay attention to what was being said.

"No."

"And their child, Joey, is six years old, is he not?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"In all of those six years, have you ever seen anything wrong with Joey?  Have you ever seen him with bruises, cuts, anything?"

"Not really.  I've seen him with bruises, but they were small.  Every kid gets bruises from being rambunctious." 

Bulma nodded.  "Could you describe him for the court?  Is he sad?  Gloomy?  Happy?  Playful?"

"Well, he is very polite.  I always see Gohan and Joey playing outside.  Videl takes him to the park a lot as well.  He plays with my two sons there and also at my house."

"Have you ever babysat for Joey?"

"Yes, a few times."

"On those days when you have babysat him, did you ever see any marks on him that would suggest that Videl and or Gohan were hurting mentally or physically?"

"No.  Neither."

"Do you believe that the Sons are the type of people that would hurt their children?"

"Not at all.  They are very loving and caring people.  Videl used to help helpless citizens and worked with the police to stop criminals.  I hardly doubt that the daughter of Hercule Satan would turn to a life of crime by kidnapping a girl or hurting her own child."

"Amen," Videl said under her breath.  Gohan turned his head and gave Videl a smile and squeezed her hand.

"Thank you, Caroline.  Now…about that business of one of the defendants flying…Are you absolutely sure that you saw Trunks Brief flying?"

"I-It looked like him.  Same hair, hair-cut, same build…"

Bulma paused and looked at the floor.  "Did you see him up close?"  When Caroline hesitated, Bulma looked back up.  "Well?  Was Trunks Brief up close when you saw him?  Or was he far away?"

"Well, he was far away…"

"Do you take any kind of drugs that would impair your judgment or that would make you hallucinate?"

Caroline sat looking at Bulma incredulously.  "I beg your pardon?  I do NOT hallucinate."

"Excuse me for challenging your judgment, Mrs. Hawthorn, but if someone told you they saw someone flying through the sky, wouldn't you be a little skeptical?  It's not common practice to fly you know?"

"I know what I saw," Caroline replied tersely.

"Remember you are under oath, Caroline.  Are you sure that you don't take any pills?"

Caroline sighed.  "I was taking painkillers.  I had an operation a few days before I saw Trunks flying."

"Thank you, Mrs. Hawthorn.  You may step down now."  Bulma walked over to her desk and looked through her notes to find who she would call to be her next witness.

"You're next witness, Mrs. Brief?" Judge Swartz called.

Bulma grinned inwardly as she saw who was next on her list.  "Your honor, I would like to call Gohan Son to the stand."

A murmur from everyone in the courtroom was heard as Gohan slowly stood to his feet.  All eyes were on him as he walked to the podium.  His face was stern, but he wasn't concerned with the eyes boring holes into his back, he was preparing himself to save his daughter.

_"Don't mess this up, Gohan," he thought to himself.  __"This is your daughter you are fighting for.  DO NOT let her go back to that creep.  You know what he has done to her.  Do you really want that to continue to happen?  If you screw this up, think of what her life is going to be like with him.  She might not even live to see her next birthday."_

Gohan was sworn in and he sat down.  He looked over at Videl who watched on anxiously.  Trunks' attention was focused entirely on Gohan.  Then Gohan glanced over at Pan whose eyes were full of hope of salvation and for a better life than what she had grown up with.  Gohan winced as he realized just how much Pan was depending on him to save her.

_"Save her.  Don't let your only daughter, whom you haven't heard from in so many years, down."_

Finally, Gohan turned to Bulma.

"Mr. Son, I would like you to tell the court what happened.  Let's begin around the time that Pan was born.  How did you first find out about her?"

"Videl told me about her."

"What did she say to you?"

"I don't remember exactly what she said.  I remember that she told me that she had had a baby and it was mine.  I was so happy about it too.  I hugged her and asked to see our child, but then I saw the look on her face and knew that something was wrong.  She told me that she had given Pan up for adoption because she thought that I wouldn't want it and because she believed that her father would disown her or something."  Gohan looked over at Videl and smiled.  "We tried to get her back, but," here Gohan's smile turned to a frown and he looked back at Bulma, "she was already adopted."

"Did you try finding out who adopted Pan?"

"Yes, we did try, but the people at the adoption agency told us they couldn't give us the information of the new parents because there had been a few cases where the biological parents had changed their minds and wanted to keep their baby.   They didn't want us to see our baby because then we might want it back."

Bulma stood looking at Gohan quizzically.  "You said parents…"

Gohan looked at Bulma blankly.  "Yeah…"

"That would mean that there were two people being the parents."

"That's true," Gohan agreed.  Suddenly he realized what it meant.

Bulma turned to Mr. Hahn and Charles.  "I was under the impression that Mr. Miller was the only parent.  According to his mother and even his brother, Charles raised Pan on his own.  Hmm…"  Bulma appeared to be deep in thought, but then snapped out of it and returned to asking Gohan questions.  "So what happened after that?"

"We kept trying for a while to find Pan, but after a while, we gave up hope of that.  Then we just decided to hope that someday Pan would find out that she was adopted and would want to find us.  We left our name published in the phone book and all of that so that she would be able to find us easily."

"And when did you meet Pan for the first time?"

"When Trunks brought her to our house."

"And was he flying?"

Gohan looked down and chuckled.  "No."

"Do you believe that Trunks abducted Pan to bring her to you, to maybe show you that your daughter was still around or something?"

"No," Gohan laughed.  "As far as I know, Trunks didn't know about Pan being our daughter.  I didn't tell him, anyway.  Besides, I hardly think he would go out one day to find my missing daughter for me."  
"Did you know immediately that the girl that Trunks brought to your house was your daughter?"

"No.  I had thought that she was a friend of his or something, though I had never met her before.  He introduced her to me and said that her name was Pan.  The name, obviously, made me think of my daughter.  I looked at her more closely and realized that she looked like Videl and I.  Then I was fairly confident that she was our long lost daughter.  It would have been too much of a coincidence for her to have the same name and look like us and end up NOT being our daughter…"

"Right.  Did Pan have any idea who you were?"

"No, I don't think so.  She never really said anything, but it's kind of hard not to know at least about my wife.  She must have heard about Hercule Satan's daughter at some point in her life, I don't know of anyone who hasn't."

Gohan looked over at Pan and was surprised to see her smiling at him lovingly.  "Mr. Son, did you tell Pan who you believed her to be?"

"I did.  Well…I kind of did.  I asked her if she was adopted to help validate for me that she was indeed my daughter."

"And what did she say?"  Bulma crossed her arms and began walking slowly around the courtroom.

"She admitted that she was adopted.  We told her about how we used to have a daughter and that we had given her up for adoption and we believed that she was our daughter."

"How did she react?"

Gohan smiled.  "Well, when we first told her, she fainted.  When she woke back up, she thought we were crazy or something."

Bulma stopped and stood looking at Gohan.  "Where did she stay?"

"In our house."

"Was she happy there?"

Gohan shrugged.  "I guess so.  She never complained about anything.  We took her out shopping and treated her the best we know how.  I mean, 14 years of not seeing her…" Gohan felt like crying over everything that was happening.  _"Why can't she just be at home with us?"  He paused and looked at his hands that were folded on his lap.  He shook his head, trying to shake off the emotions that were suddenly flooding him and continued, "We had to make up for all that lost time with her."_

"I have a daughter too," Bulma said, more for the judge and for everyone else in the court rather than for Gohan, "I would hate to lose her and not see her for such a long time.  I'm sure any parent would want to make up for their lost time with their child.  Did she enjoy herself while she was with you and your wife?"

Gohan looked over at Videl.  Videl was staring intently at Gohan, all the while biting her nails.  "I'm sure she did."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hopefully not too bad of a cliffhanger?  Hopefully I can get the next chapter out sooner than this one, but the way things are going, I'm not sure it will be like it used to be *sniff* in the good old days when I had time to write things.  Okay, see ya later!

~Lady Branwen~


	19. Chapter 19

Yay!  I got this one out like a few days earlier than the last chapter!  Yay, right?  Ah, oh well.  But hey, this is the longest chapter I've ever written, throughout all of my stories, so that should make you happy.  The story itself is over 3,000 words!  Okay, I'll leave you alone now….

~Lady Branwen~

Disclaimer:  You know I don't anything, don't you?

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Girl of my Dreams

Chapter 19

"So how did you come to meet Pan's foster father, Charles?"

"He came to the house one night and woke Videl and I up.  We let him in the house and he accused us of having his daughter."

"What happened?"

"We told him that Pan wasn't there, that she was with friends.  He didn't believe us so he wanted to search the house.  He said something along the lines of that it would be better if he did it rather than the cops getting a warrant to search the house."

"He was threatening you, then, in your own house?"  Bulma asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

Bulma raised her eyebrows and looked over at Charles, then turned back to Gohan and continued, "And what did you do?"

Gohan sighed inwardly at the mess he had made by allowing Charles even into the house, especially because of what happened next.  "I let him look around the house all he wanted until he was satisfied."

 "Why did you do that?"

"Because I believed that it was the right thing to do and I would rather have had him looking around than getting the police to search my house.  Now I'm not so sure I made the best decision."

"And why is that, Mr. Son?"

"I think he kidnapped Pan when she came back."

A murmur erupted throughout the court at hearing Gohan's accusation.

"Order!" Judge Swartz yelled above the noise.

When things settled down, Gohan continued.  "Pan was kidnapped not long after Charles visited the house.  It was the next night I think."

"Is that all you have to go by?  Just the fact that he came into the house?"

Gohan shook his head.  "No, there's more.  I hate myself for having did this, but by letting Charles explore the house, he would probably be able to remember where Pan's room was and where our bedroom is.  He would be able to know where everything was positioned in the house and would be able to kidnap Pan if he really wanted to, which is what I believe."

More murmurs were heard, but they died down as Bulma began to speak.  "Mr. Son, do you really believe that such a supposedly good person such as Charles would break into your house to kidnap his child?"

"Yes.  I definitely believe it, especially after the things that Trunks and Pan have told me about him."

"Oh, so did Trunks know him?"

"No, Pan told Trunks and he told me."

"I see, and what exactly did they say?"

"They told me that Charles had hurt Pan repeatedly.  He would burn her with cigarettes, rape her, cut her, hit her.  Anything that would hurt her."

"Did Pan ever say these things to you herself or was Trunks the only one who ever told you about these things?"

"Yes she did."

"So, she obviously didn't like Charles very much, did she?"

"No."

"Did she ever express any interest of going back to be with the man who had raised her?"

"Not at all."

"Thank you, Gohan.  No further questions."  Bulma smiled kindly at Gohan and walked back to her seat.

"Your witness, Mr. Hahn."  
Mr. Hahn had a gleam in his eye as he strode up to Gohan.

"Mr Son, you have made some serious allegations towards my client.  Let's go over each one.  When you saw Mr. Miller on your doorstep, that very first night you met him, how did he strike you?"

"I didn't like him."  
"That was your first impression of him.  And so why did you let him into your house." 

"Well, it was late and I thought he was one of our neighbors at first, but then I realized that it wasn't our neighbor.  Then he started saying that we had his daughter."

"Did you believe that he was talking about Pan?" 

"Yes, that's why I let him him."

"So you let him in even though you didn't trust him."

"Right."

"You look like a pretty strong man, Mr. Son.  Did you believe that if Mr. Miller tried anything that you could 'take him on' as it were?"

Gohan shrugged.  "That wasn't my thought, but if he had tried to hurt my family I certainly would have stopped him.  But I would never have let him into the house if Pan had been there."

 "Why is that?"

Gohan looked at Mr. Hahn as if he were stupid.  "Why?  He was some strange person who I didn't know or trust.  I don't let people in my house that I don't trust.  I shouldn't have let him in at all."

"Where was Pan all this time?"

"She was with my mother and father."

"You also said that you would rather have had him snooping around than letting the police do it.  Why is that?  Were you worried about them finding something?"

"No.  I'm just one of the many people who would be embarrassed if the police had to come and search my house for no reason.  I don't know about you, but we are a prominent family.  We are so much in the spotlight, we enjoy our privacy.  Do you have any idea how much of a scandal it would have been to let the police search our house?  Do you realize how out of hand this trial has gotten?  My family is going to be the center of attention for a long time, Mr. Hahn.  We will be in the news and won't be left alone, all because I want my daughter back."

"Yes, but be that as it may, Mr. Son, you are in court now, and you are on trial.  I would think that this would be much worse than letting the police search your house."

"It is, but I didn't think that things would get to this point."

"Anyway, what were you doing over Mrs. Maktahi's house?  Did you know that she is Charles' mother?"

"No, I just found out about that.  I wanted to talk to her because she is a neighbor and maybe she had seen Charles hitting Pan.  Or maybe Pan might have gone over there and Mrs. Maktahi might have seen bruises or Pan might have confessed things to her."

"Was that your only reason for going over there?"  

_"Here we go," Gohan thought.  He knew that he would get hell for this.  "No, I went there to talk to Mr. Miller.  I just wanted to reason with him."_

"As I recall," Mr. Hahn said as he walked back to his desk and looked at a notepad, "that was the same night that Pan as kidnapped from her home."

"From Charles' house, yes, but she wasn't kidnapped."

"Really?  Tell us what happened."

"I went there to just talk with Charles.  I wanted to explain to him about how much Videl and I wanted Pan back.  Pan wanted to be with us and I figured that he could see her from time to time if he wanted to and if Pan agreed to, but that she could live with us.  Pan wanted to be away from him and I didn't want her to be around him any more than she had to be.  And if she never wanted to see him again, that would be her choice.  In my opinion, if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't want him to be around me.  Who wants to be around someone who beats you?"

"Was he there?"

"No.  I knocked on the door, but no one answered it.  Then I heard Pan yelling from the other side of the house and I went to see if she was okay.  She wanted to get out of the house through the window, but it was stuck.  She said something about the window being glued shut and she wanted me to help her open it."

"So you're saying that she wanted you force the window open?"

"Yes."

"Interesting…" was all Mr. Hahn said.  

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Trunks, honey, I want you to do Mommy a favor…"

"What Mom?" he asked suspiciously.  He knew that when she used this tone of voice that she knew he wouldn't like it.

"Well, I would like to use your journal in court.  It would prove that Charles tried to kidnap her…"

Trunks looked at her in shock, "Mom, besides the fact that I don't want my business told to a courtroom full of people and having it all be PUT ON RECORD, I did mention about flying and that would mean we all lied about me flying…plus, how do you know any of it would be useful to you?  Have you been looking at my journal?"

"No, no!  Of course not!  It just fell on the floor and opened when I was putting your socks away," she answered, trailing off at the end.

"Mom.  I don't keep socks in my desk drawer.  I keep my journal and other kinds of papers there."

"Bulma, for once the boy is right," Vegeta butted in as he sneaked up behind Bulma.  "You can't put that entire journal as evidence.  To him, writing about his father training all day in a gravity chamber and going Super Saiyan isn't a big deal.  But how many other humans do you know can become a Super Saiyan?  Either they would investigate further until the reporters or the police found out what I am and that I'm not so-called 'normal,' or the media will.  And you know how I hate them."

He opened the refrigerator and took out an entire jug of milk and drank it all.  

"Well, then I'll take out only the pages I need."

"If I were the other lawyer, or anyone in general who heard about it, I would think that either you or he," Vegeta pointed to Trunks, "is hiding something." 

"I guess you're right," Bulma said, defeated.

"Thank you, Dende," Trunks said under his breath.

"Hey, it wasn't such a bad idea," she argued.

Vegeta snorted and walked back to gravity room.  "Glad you're not my lawyer," he muttered.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

_I don't know how to feel about this entire situation.   I really want to be with my real parents, but I can't help but not want leave the person who raised me.  I at least feel pity for him.  He has never been a good father, but I just don't want to leave him all alone.  This must be a side effect of living with someone for so long.  I can't believe I feel sorry for him after everything he's done, but I definitely want to get out of here.  _

_I feel Trunks and his feelings.  He is so worried about me.  I guess the one good thing, if nothing else in this trial is that Charles hasn't hit me, even though I have made him mad a few times.  Trunks just wants all of this to be over so that he can hold me.  Oh, and I want him to, but I just don't know if I want to get too close to anyone for right now.  Maybe Charles will kidnap me again and I'll never see my family again.  Maybe he will just get so jealous that he'll think that if I can't be his daughter, then I won't be anyone's daughter and he'll kill me.  If he's going to jail anyway, why wouldn't he?  He wouldn't be able to keep me locked up in there with him and he wouldn't be allowed near me.  I don't know what would be worse: being killed, or living with the fear that one day he'll get out of jail and hunt me down.  I wouldn't put it past him.  I think that if I tell the truth about the kind of life I have had with him, and if I confirm that he was the one that kidnapped me, Mom and Dad will win and hopefully I'll be able to live with them._

_I wish I could really talk to Trunks or my parents.  I want to hear Trunks' voice and hear him telling me that everything will be okay.  The police have kept Charles and me here in a secure apartment with someone guarding the door incase Dad or Trunks or anyone tries to get to me.  That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.  They are locking me up with the guy that I need to be protected from!  Why doesn't anyone listen to me?  I don't want to stay here!_

_*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*_

"What are you doing?" Charles asked when he walked into the room and saw Pan sitting on the floor, writing in a book.

He grabbed Pan by her hair and pulled the journal out of her hand.  His face turned red with fury when he looked at the entry and knew that if the journal fell into Bulma's hands, it would ruin his case.  He glared at Pan, but remembered that it wasn't in his best interest to hit her and so instead took the journal, ripped up the entries and burned them on the stove.  Then he went back to his room, the journal with him so that she wouldn't be able to write anything else. 

Pan looked sadly after her journal and then looked at the stove where all of her thoughts had been incinerated in just a few seconds into ashes.  Without saying a word, Pan got up and went to her room to cry.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Mom!" Trunks rushed into his parents' bedroom later that night.  "I have an idea."

Bulma raised her eyebrows in a gesture for him to go on after looking up from her book.

"I gave Pan a journal," he continued. "Maybe we can use that…"

Bulma thought for a moment then nodded.  "That would work, as long as she hasn't said anything about you flying or things like that."

"Okay," Trunks smiled at being able to help.  "I'll talk to her and we'll see if she can do it."

"Awwww… my precious little baby Trunksie Wunksie has a mate!"

"Mom!"

"Bulma!  Stop your coddling!" Vegeta interjected as he heard her cooing when he walked into the room.  He was already annoyed with the robots in the gravity room that broke too easily, he didn't need to be bothered with Bulma's incessant babbling.  "He's a warrior.  Do I really have to hear you babying him every time you are in the same room as he is?"  

"Thanks, Dad," Trunks mouthed as he quickly got out of the room.  _"I can't believe that he's been defending me lately, but why does he always have to walk in at the worst times?"  Trunks ran to his room to get out of his parents' way.__  Most likely, Bulma would rage back at Vegeta and in the end, he would be forced to sleep on the couch.  No one ever wants to be around either of them when that happens, especially the person who was the subject of their argument._

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Trunks sat on his bed looking at the ceiling.  Pan never answered him when he tried to talk to her.  Through their bond, he felt her filled with anger, pain, and sadness.  It made him want to talk to her even more, but she just wouldn't let him through.

_"She would talk to me if Charles is hurting her again, wouldn't she? Maybe he did and she doesn't want anyone to be around her or to talk to her."_

Trunks winced as he thought about the last time Pan hadn't wanted anyone around her.  It had been after Charles had raped her.  Trunks had wanted so badly to hold her and keep her safe, but didn't want to intrude upon her and make her feel uncomfortable.  

_"No wonder she is feeling so terrible; she has to live with the man who raped her and who has ruined most of her life.  Especially after she has found out that life isn't so terrible and that there are nice people for her to live with…and also people who love her." _

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Trunks found himself in a white room with hardly any furniture. Pan was sitting on the bed, her eyes were red from crying, but she was calm and not crying now.

"How are you?"

"I'm okay I guess."

"Why haven't you answered me?"

Trunks walked over and sat by her on the bed and put his arm around her.  

"Is this where they are keeping you?"

She nodded.  "Trunks, I've missed you.  I wish you could really be here with me.  I want to hear your voice; I want you to hold me."

"Well," he said in a comforting tone, "pretend this is real.  This is the closest we will ever get to holding each other.  At least until we win the trial."

"Do you really think we will?"  Pan lifted her head up from his shoulder and searched his eyes for the answer.

"I think so.  I have an idea.  Have you been writing in your journal?  If you have, can you give it to my mom and we can use it to win."

Pan broke down into tears.

"Pan?  What is it?  Did I say something wrong?  Oh, gosh, I'm sorry."  He squeezed her and kissed her forehead.

"He burned my journal today!  He saw me writing in it and he read it and burned it!" she cried.

Trunks' heart sank.  "Then," he said solemnly, "you'll have to actually say all these things in court.  Especially talk about how he raped you.  And tell how he burned your journal today.  It will make him look like he doesn't want the court to find something out, which means, he has something to hide.  That will definitely make him look bad."

He kissed her forehead again.  "Everything will be okay as long as you tell the truth on the stand.  Don't even look over at him when you're up there.  Don't let him intimidate you.  Don't be afraid.  Nothing bad will happen to you if you tell the truth.  I know it's going to be really hard to do, but you have to do it if you want to get away from him and be with us.  Otherwise, you'll never be able to see your mom or dad ever again.  You won't even be able to see me again.  Gohan, Videl and I might even end up going to jail if you don't tell the truth."  He kissed her again.  "Just gather up some courage and let it all out.  We'll win when you tell about how he hurt you all these years.  No one will ever let you go back to him if they knew that you were mistreated."

"Thanks, Trunks," Pan said as she wiped away a tear.  "I have to go now.  I can't keep the dream up anymore.  I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay.  I love you, Pan."

"I love you too."  She smiled and waved just before the dream turned to darkness and Trunks was left to sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

Well, hey, I got this chapter out faster than the last few, didn't I?  Yay for me!  Okay, since I forgot the last time, I'll start out by answering some questions:

Makeveli:  Okay, I started talking about Charles' wife here in this chapter, but you'll find out more about her in the next chapter too I think.  I still haven't decided if I'm going to actually bring her in, or just talk about her.  

And, just to let you all know, I should be able to update more frequently from now on because I don't have a lot of hard classes next semester.  Only one and maybe two this time!  Okay, see ya!

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Disclaimer: *hiss* I don't own anything!

Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 20

Trunks grabbed a small stack of paper from his desk the next morning.

_"I want her to be able to let her feelings out.  I want there to be written feelings for the court to see.  The judge will know that she isn't lying about this.  I'll just give her this stack of paper.  She can hide this easier if she has to."_

Trunks sat down at his table and began to write a note to Pan on the top page of the stack.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Everyone entered the courtroom the next morning in packs.  Pan still sat on Charles' side of the room quietly, not bothering to acknowledge anyone around her.

Bulma went out of her way to walk by Pan to get to her desk and as she walked by she smiled and dropped a stack of paper on Pan's lap.  Pan looked up with wonder and watched Bulma go to her desk.  She looked down and unfolded the stack to find a note from Trunks.

_Pan,_

_            Remember how I said you should write?  Well, here's the paper.  Please write down everything you can. This is important.  If you do this, you're practically guaranteed that you won't ever have to live with Charles.   Even if Gohan, your mother, and I get thrown in jail and you can't live with your parents, at least you won't have to live with him.  Try to hide this the best that you can.  Find someplace safe, he can't know that you will be able to have something written on paper against him.  I know he thinks he has mental control over you since he has been messing with your head all these years, and he probably does.  But writing is a special outlet and even if you can't say the words, at least you can have them on paper.  I love you Pan.  I hope that this will all be over soon. I don't want you to be around him anymore.  Please let me know if he hurts you again.  You worry me too much when you shut down and don't talk to me!  I love you.  Bye sweetie!_

_                                                                                    Trunks_

Pan refolded the stack and shoved it inside her sweatshirt before anyone noticed.  She looked over at Bulma again and saw both Bulma and Trunks standing and smiling at her.  Then they turned and pretended not to notice Pan.  Pan searched the room for her mother and father and spotted them talking to her grandparents Goku and Chi-Chi.  

Charles had turned around to talk to her and had noticed her looking at her real family.  "Now you listen to me, Panny," he said quietly, but with a deadly tone.  "You don't want to know what will happen if I lose.  I have connections with a lot of people and a lot of them aren't very nice.  Do you understand?"

Pan was almost forced to tears just imagining that anything would harm her or her parents, but she held back her tears and said bravely, "I don't care what you say.  My parents love me.  They'll protect me."

"There are some things that they can't protect you from.  Where were they when I took you back?"

More people entered the courtroom and began sitting down.  Not wanting anyone to overhear him threatening Pan, Charles turned around after giving Pan a glare.

_"I feel like crying," she thought.  __"I want to be on my parents' side of the room.  I would love to do that.  I don't think I could though.  Maybe…" _

She looked around and inched herself closer to her parents.  It was only an inch, but to Pan, it felt like a mile.  To take the initiative and having the strength to do anything against Charles was something new to her.  The only thing she had ever done against him was contacting Trunks, and she hadn't even counted that.  She told herself that she was just testing out her telepathic abilities when she really knew that she was crying out for help.  She glanced quickly at Charles, expecting him to be glaring at her for doing such a thing and she got herself ready to move back to where she had been.  Instead, all she saw was the back of his head.  But one person had noticed Pan's daring.  Pan looked across the isle, thinking about moving again when she caught her grandfather's eye.  He had seen her.

"Come over here," Goku whispered to her.

She opened her mouth to say she couldn't do that, it was too rash, but just then the judge came in and she stayed where she was.  Everyone sat down when they were told by the bailiff and the room became quiet.  A middle aged woman with long black hair in a bun was called up to the stand by Mr. Hahn.  Her name, Pan found out when she was sworn in, was Lin Kuei.

"Mrs. Kuei, what is your relationship to this case?"

"I was the social worker in charge of finding Pan a home."

"Can you describe Mrs. Son for us at the time she released her daughter to you?" Mr. Hahn asked.

"At the time, she was Miss Satan.  She seemed to be very distraught over giving up her child, but almost all mothers are upset when they bring their children in."

"Did she seem as if she were, or rather, would have been a good mother?"

"I can say for sure.  Obviously, if she brought the child in, she didn't think that she was ready.  We respect the mother's decision.  We would much rather have parents come in and give us their child if they know that the child won't be provided for well enough, than having to go to that home later in the child's life and forcibly take the child away.  As for Miss Satan, all I can say is that most mothers as young as she is can't take care of a baby the way it should be taken care of on their own, which Miss Satan planned on doing.  She told us that she didn't want her father to know about it. I'm sure that if she had really wanted to, Miss Satan could have made ends meet; he father is a rich man.  But we respected her decision."

"What, exactly, is the right way to raise a child?  What are your firm's standards?"

"Well, a child needs a nurturing environment.  They especially need two parents.  Two parents are usually better because together, they can provide more attention to the child and the child will 9 times out of ten become a well-rounded person."

"What about single parents?"

"We rarely ever give a child to a single parent?"

"Why?"

"A person living on their own or if they live with their own parent, aren't likely candidates for being a good parent at that stage.  Perhaps they are well intentioned, and perhaps would be a nice parent, but they can't provide for that child.  Most single persons, who live on their own, live in an apartment or a house.  A lot of their paycheck, since their paycheck isn't shared by a husband or wife, goes to their rent or house payment.  Now, depending on their job, they only have so much money left for buying food, clothes, and other things they might need.  If you throw another person in and that single parent has to provide for that child, it takes out a lot more of that paycheck.  Twice the food needs to be bought, twice the clothes.  And, to have a well-adjusted child, you need to spend extra time with him or her and take them out to the movies or to the store.  Providing for a child while a single parent is very hard to do.  We only let a single parent adopt when we are sure that the child will be taken care of, and there won't be any kind of financial problems that would cause the family to go broke and live on the street.  That situation could either be just as bad or worse than what the child had before.  We strive to not let things like that happen."

"And where did Mr. Miller fit in?"

"He was not a single parent at that time; he had a wife."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"From what you have described, Mrs. Kuei, you must have a very strict and difficult system that people must pass through in order to adopt a child.  A two parent home, correct?"

"Yes," Lin answered. 

"And Charles Miller passed all the tests and went through the whole system you have and was able to adopt."

"Yes he did."

"How?" Bulma asked.

"He met our standards."

"What about his wife?"

"He was married and produced a valid marriage license.  He and his wife met our background checks and passed the multiple interviews that we set up to investigate their personality and integrity."

"Why do you do that?"

"So we can make sure that they will be in the right mind set for having a child and we make sure that they understand what a responsibility it is taking care of a child.  Children are not toys or cars that they can get rid of when they please.  We stress that in my firm."

"What was Mr. Miller's wife's name, please?"

"Elaine McDowell."

Bulma nodded.  "I see.  Elaine McDowell, his 'wife' divorced him three months after the adoption…"

Videl leaned over to Trunks and whispered, 'Wow, your mom really did her homework with this case.  Maybe she would be a good lawyer."

"Yeah," Trunks replied.

Trunks remembered watching his Mom hard at work the night before.  She had been sitting on her bed with papers lying all over her bed.  Somehow, as cluttered as it all seemed to Trunks, Bulma knew what she was doing and anytime she needed a certain paper, she knew exactly where it was.  Trunks watched his mom work for almost half the night, before he got tired and went to bed.  He remembered, just as he was leaving, watching his dad trying to find a spot on the bed to sleep on.  

"I can't believe that she found out that Charles had a wife before."

"Neither can I."

Lin was obviously not aware that Charles had gotten a divorce.

"Did you do any follow-ups on the Millers?  Isn't that a standard procedure?" Bulma asked.

"It is, but we only do check ups during the first few weeks to a month after the child is adopted.  We make sure that the family will be okay and that the child is adjusting.  After that, we leave them alone.  Regular families are not checked up on, so we like to give the family their space."

"So you believed that the Millers would be a good family and that Pan would have the best life possible?"

"Yes."

Pan had been slowly inching towards the isle.  Now she was halfway there, but as soon as she heard Mrs. Kuei say that, she moved six more inches to the isle in protest.  _"How can that woman say that he was a good parent?"_

Bulma walked back to her desk and took out the photos taken of Pan's bruises.  She walked back to Lin and showed them to her, then let the bailiff take them to Judge Swartz.

"These are photos that were taken a few weeks ago.  The person pictured is Pan, as you can see in one of the photos.  These were taken after she was brought back from Mr. Miller's house the first time she was taken by him."

"Objection," Mr. Hahn broke in, "That hasn't been proven yet."

"Sustained."

"These pictures we taken after Pan was kidnapped from the Son's home and was later found in Mr. Miller's house.  Mrs. Kuei, the photos show Pan bleeding, bruised, swollen…this is after my clients found her in Mr. Miller's home.  She told them herself that it was Charles who did it.  Why would she lie about something like that?  How could a person slip through all your rules and standards for adopting?  His own mother mentioned that he had always been a liar.  How did your firm allow this man to adopt a child?"

Pan had still been slowly making her way to the isle and was now at the very edge.  She looked back and saw Robert glaring at her.  Everyone in the row behind her looked at her with awe, waiting to see if she would really cross the isle.  She looked at Charles.  He still hadn't turned around.  Then she looked across at Goku and Chi Chi who had been encouraging her all the time to keep moving.  She saw all the people who had been so kind to her on the other side of the isle.  She knew that once she went to the other side, there was no going back.  If the judge did not notice, Pan would still have to go back to the secluded apartment with Charles.  He would definitely notice and would teach her a lesson.  Nearly everyone's eyes were on her instead of paying attention to what was going on in front of the courtroom.  Even the bailiff seemed to be fixated on her.  Even Vegeta, who was usually so aloof and never took any special notice of anyone was watching what she did.  Pan knew that she would be happier on the other side, and it would make a huge statement; she did not like Charles and wasn't on his side.  

So, taking one more deep breath, she got up and scurried over to the opposite bench and sat down next to Goku.  Chi Chi reached over and held her hand, close to tears.  A murmur arose in the courtroom.  

Bulma stopped talking and looked around.  Everyone was whispering at one another, but they all seemed to be looking in one direction.  She followed the looks and saw that Pan had moved to the other side of the courtroom.  


	21. Chapter 21

Hello again, I hope this one didn't take to long to get out!  This one, I'm going to admit, is a little sappy, but my reason for it is that everything has been so serious for a while, so I figured that I would lighten it up.  So anyway, here it is, enjoy!

~Lady Branwen~

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 21

Trunks sat outside in a valley watching water cascade down a waterfall.  Birds sang in the trees surrounding him.  Rabbits played together in the grass and squirrels hunted for food, being careful to stay away from the rabbits so they wouldn't be pounced on.  Life went on as usual in that lush valley.  It was the most peaceful spot for Trunks to go when he needed to relax and to think.  He closed his eyes and lost himself in the sounds.  When he opened his eyes again, he sighed.

"_Everything is so nice here and I feel like shit.  I'm ruining the scenery."_

He got up and walked behind the waterfall into a cavern.  Trunks smiled.  He and Goten had blasted holes into the cliff and had made the cavern themselves.  He touched the wall and looked around.  There were three different rooms.  There was one for them to sleep, one to hang out in, and one extra room that they had made specially for one particular purpose.  It was their ultra secret hideout.  The cavern itself might have been a hideout, but the extra room, at least when they were younger had seemed much more secure and impervious to attack.  There was a small hole that one would have to crawl through and as they grew they made the hole bigger. But that the small hole belied the grandness of the room it led to.  The room wasn't extravagant, but it was huge and Trunks wondered at how he and Goten could have made it when they were so small.  They had used ki blasts, but for being so young, they had done an incredible job.  To make it secure, they had a huge boulder that they would roll out in the front of the hole and another one on the inside of the room that they would roll in front of the hole as added protection.  At the very back of the room they had made another small hole as an escape route.  

They had made the cavern after one of their more daring jokes against Vegeta.  They had fled Trunks' house in fear for their lives (who wouldn't after Vegeta just used shampoo that had hair straightener in it, courtesy of Trunks and Goten).  They stayed within the vicinity just long enough to see the look on his face when he finally came out of the bathroom.  They watched as Bulma had tried so very hard not to laugh at how flat his hair was. Then, gathering as much courage as he could, Trunks jumped out of his hiding spot laughing uncontrollably, snapped a picture of Vegeta (using the flash, of course, to blind Vegeta just long enough to let Trunks have a head start), then flew back to their cavern.  

A lot of thought went into that particular prank, Trunks remembered, but it had paid off.  That picture was now in the family photo album and whenever showed, it would always make everyone laugh.  Except Vegeta of course!  Not even Trunks understood how he had escaped and he and Goten had hidden from Vegeta for three weeks.  Of course, Vegeta got his revenge in the end and had forced them to spend a week with him in the gravity room.

Trunks moved the rock that hid the hole and crawled into the large room.  Pan sat against a wall with her legs drawn up and her head resting on her knees.

"How are you?" he asked.

She turned to look at him with tears in her eyes and she let herself fall into his arms as he sat beside her.  They sat holding each other for what seemed like forever.  Then, finally, Pan slipped out of his arms and rested her head on his thigh.

"I'm so glad that I'm not there anymore."  Then she thought of all that had happened.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

_Pan felt everyone's eyes on her.  There was whispering coming from all over the courtroom.  She knew that Charles had to be looking at her, finally taking notice that she had moved away from him.  Charles was, in fact, staring right at her, his nostrils flaring, anger was clearly written on his face.  Pan felt a familiar fear overcome her and she knew that she was losing her resolve.  Quickly, she looked at Trunks, the only person in the world who could possibly help her and give her any hope of getting away from Charles.  She saw him with his eyes wide and his lips partly open as if to say something, but was to shocked to do so._

_Goku put his arm around Pan protectively.  All the attention of the courtroom was focused on her as everyone rumored about why she had suddenly switched sides when she had always been seated behind Charles.  Everyone, from the judge, to people sitting at the back of the courtroom, was looking at her.  She looked at Trunks again and saw him looking at Charles.  Then he looked back at her._

_"Run," he mouthed._

_Without the slightest hesitation, Pan escaped from Goku's grasp and bolted for the door.  No one got in her way until she came to the guards blocking the door.  They tried to capture and tame her as if she were a deranged animal on the loose.  She felt her arms grabbed and pulled behind her.  Bulma saw and immediately knew that being handled like that would bring back bad memories for Pan, so she demanded that the guards let her go.  She rushed to Pan.  Everything seemed to be in slow motion to Pan.  She collapsed on the floor and sat in a daze.  Bulma knelt beside her and touched her forehead and talked to her quietly, asking her how she was.  _

"Bulma's voice is so distant," _Pan thought slowly.  _

_"Stay here, Pan" she heard Trunks say._

_"Where are you?"_

_"I'm here."_

_"I…love you."_

_"Don't, Pan.  Don't pass out, don't give up.  Stay with us."_

_"Where are you?"_

_"I'm here, Pan.  The guards won't let me near you, but I'm right here."_

_"…"_

_"She's passing out, get her someplace comfortable to lay on.  Move it!"_

_Bulma's__ voice came back loud and clear.  The people in the room were all talking and crowding around Pan.  She opened her eyes and saw Bulma._

_Bulma turned and shouted above the noise, "She's waking up!"  Looking back at Pan she said more gently, "Hey Pan, it's okay.  Do you want me to help you up?"_

_Pan was still slightly confused about her whole ideal and everything seemed like it was later in the day, although she thought that she hadn't even passed out.  "I was only a little lightheaded," she said to Bulma._

_"I think you were a little more than that," she answered with a smile.  "You've been out for about fifteen minutes."_

_She looked around at her surroundings and saw that the two guards who hadn't let her out were right behind her, trying to help her to sit up.  Goku was to her left, a look of concern was on his face and his hand was on her shoulder in reassurance.  Judge Swartz was next to Goku, bending over slightly to get a good look at the situation.  Bulma was in the middle, still crouching down next to Pan.  Behind Bulma and the judge was Trunks.  He was standing and smiled down at her.  Next to Bulma was Charles.  Pan gasped as her eyes fell on him and she began scooting over so that she could be closer to Goku._

_"It's okay, Pan.  Don't worry, I'm right here," he said gently.  He put his arm around her as she sat up and tried to console her.  Pan turned and cried into his chest._

_Judge Swartz looked suspiciously over at Charles.  Charles' jaw was set, but he kept himself in check and to anyone in the room, he appeared to have a genuine concern for Pan.  Goku knew otherwise and saw the anger boiling beneath the surface, just at the point of exploding._

_"Come with me," Judge Swartz said when Pan had somewhat recovered.  He motioned for Bulma and Mr. Hahn to follow._

_When they were all seated and comfortable in his chambers, Judge Swartz began to speak._

_"Throughout this case, Mrs. Brief, you have maintained that Ms. Miller does not want to be with her adoptive father.  It appears that this incident would concur with your claim."  Bulma began to speak, but he held his hand up for silence.  He turned to Mr. Hahn.  "Now I don't know how you would like to handle this situation, Mr. Hahn, but you can't convince me that this girl," he gestured to Pan, "was not afraid of your client.  Whether or not your Mrs. Brief planned for Pan to do something like this, or to make her try to run away or make a scene, that look of fear cannot be mistaken.  And in any case, I don't see why she would be siding with them in the first place if she wasn't actually on their side and wants to get away from Mr. Miller."_

_"Your Honor, I believe that Mr. Son may have forced her to make a scene."_

_"Is there any evidence for this?  She has been in protective custody and there are guards all around the courtroom that would protect her. She has no reason to fear the Sons or Mr. Brief.  In fact, judging by the way that she looked at Mr. Brief when she woke up, I think they are in love."_

_Pan couldn't help but let a smile grace her lips at her good fortune.  The judge truly seemed to know and understand what was really going on and not looking at things from the surface.  He had been much more aware of her feelings than she had thought.  The fact that he took such notice of the way she had looked at Trunks surprised her, but made her happy beyond any happiness she had ever felt before.  Though, she felt as if it was all too good to be true._

_"Your Honor?"  Pan hesitated. "I don't want to be with him anymore."_

_~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~_

"I told him everything, Trunks," she said.  "I'm so glad that he didn't send me back with Charles."

"So am I," he replied gently.  

They held each other for a long while.  Trunks stroked Pan's hair.  He thought of everything that had happened, all the terrible situations that Pan had gone through, only to be there together and being happy.  Then, doing something that he rarely did in front of other people, Trunks sang to Pan softly.  It seemed that Pan understood how self conscious Trunks was and that he had let his guard down for her, and though Trunks thought he didn't sound very good, Pan thought it was wonderful. Soon Trunks got up and led Pan back outside to the fresh air.  It was almost dusk.  Trunks smirked to himself, as he developed another plan to make Pan happy.  He put his arm around her waist and slowly rose into the air to a cliff and set her down.

"Oh Trunks!" she exclaimed after the initial shock of being taken into the air.   "We can see the sun go down from here!"

He was a little taken aback at how excited he was.  Pan reminded him of a child so excited at being able to do anything because it was new to them.  He realized that, perhaps, for the first time Pan was finding out about love and happiness and about seeing and doing things she would not even dare to imagine while living with Charles.  He could just imagine Pan lying on her bed reading tons of books to let her mind drift to different times and different places far away from her own so she could forget her troubles.  Maybe after her long years alone she had been curious about what love was like and read romance novels, never once thinking that anything like it could happen to her.  Trunks didn't much care for those kinds of books or chick flicks or anything too girly in general, but for her, if she wanted to go see a chick flick, he would be more than happy to take her.  

_"She needs to be shown kindness," _Trunks thought.  _"Even if everything gets a little too sappy, she deserves to have the love that she deserves."_

She sat down on the edge of the cliff, Trunks quickly sitting down next to her with a smile, and they watched the sun slowly sink down to the horizon.  The entire valley was lit with a golden light and everything seemed magical, alive, and free.  The sun disappeared and the moon and stars came out to twinkle above them in replacement.  Pan shivered and Trunks offered her his jacket.  She took it and wrapped it around herself, but also let Trunks put his arms around her for extra warmth.

"When I first saw you in my mind," she murmured, "I knew that you would give me a different life than the one I had."  Trunks looked at her, but didn't say anything.  "I wished that I would be able to find you and stay with you forever.  I even wished that I had never been with Charles and that I would have lived with you all my life.  And when I found out that my mom and dad were still around and your friends, I wished even more that I had been with them.  I know I wouldn't have had such a bad life, and I would have been happy."

Trunks smiled, "You know, I think maybe you would have been more stubborn than you are now.  I think maybe you would be like your mom.  She can be…witchy with a b in place of the w when she wants to be."

Pan laughed and punched him lightly.  "Don't talk about my mom like that."

"But maybe it's better this way.  Maybe if you would have lived with them all your life, I would only look at you as a little sister.  We can't change the past and have everything change for us.  My mom told me how when I was still a baby that an older me came from the future and warned everyone about androids that were going to take over the world.  Then we found out that even though he was helping us here, that even by changing his past, he couldn't change his present.  So, even if we go so far as to change the past and have you being happy and living with your parents since you were born, it won't change things now."  There was a pause.  "You know…I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but…I'm okay with this path that was set out for you…for us…as long as the judge really decides that you belong with your parents.  If he doesn't, then maybe it would have been better if you had just lived with your parents from the start, even if I only liked you as a sister or something.  I'm not happy about you being mistreated here, but I'm glad that we're together now and that at least if something bad happens and you can't stay with your parents from now on, at least we had today together."

He suddenly got the impression that he was talking too much and that soon he would be putting Pan to sleep.  He squinted his eyes as he tried to decide whether that was his own thought or it was Pan's.  "Well, I should take you back now, I guess."

Pan reluctantly sat up and yawned.  Trunks lifted her up and flew her to an open window of an apartment building.  It was now the new apartment that Pan was staying in while the rest of the trial lasted.  It was guarded, just like the other one was, but the best and most important thing was that Charles wasn't in the apartment and was not allowed near Pan, at least until the case was over.  She had a feeling that now things would go her way.  When she had told the judge everything he had wanted to know about why she had reacted the way she did at seeing Charles and also why she had moved to the other side in the first place, he had seemed to make his final verdict in his mind.  Of course, he would not do so until he heard from the rest of the witnesses in case they shed more light on the situation.

"So we still have to wait." 

"Yeah," Trunks replied, "but I'm sure that everything will be fine."  He kissed her nose and was about to fly away before the guards came, but she grabbed him and pulled him back to her.  Obviously she had something to say, but she seemed to be having a hard time getting it out.  Finally, she said, "I've been thinking about something lately…Charles, if he can't keep me as his daughter, he might try to hurt me at the end of the trial.  If he ends up being put in jail, what is there for him to lose?"

Trunks suddenly got serious.  "Trust me, he won't lay a finger on you.  Even if he tries, he won't get past me."  Pan laughed and hugged him.  "What?" he asked, confused.

"You look so serious, Trunks…you look so cute when you're mad!"

She stepped back and looked at him and, by the moonlight, could see him blushing.  Pan giggles again and said goodbye to him. She watched as he flew away and smiled to herself, knowing that as long as Trunks was around, she would be okay.  She stood for a while in shock at being _alone.  For once, she didn't have to worry about being quiet or staying out of Charles' way.  She didn't have to be his little servant, she didn't have to clean the house and do a spectacular job in order to avoid a beating.  She could listen to the radio whenever she wanted and listen to whatever she wanted.  Her newfound freedom felt awkward to her, but she enjoyed it and prayed to any God that listened that she would be able to keep her happiness forever. _

 


	22. Chapter 22

To AiteanE: Well, it's kind of too bad you don't like it, but it doesn't matter to me, because I really don't feel like going back and changing my entire story.  I know a lot of it wasn't exact courtroom details, but I can't help it, I'm just writing it, I have no idea what really goes on in a courtroom.  Originally, the courtroom was only supposed to be like a chapter or a chapter and a half, but I wanted to put in so many different points of view that the courtroom stuff got really out of hand.  Anyway, don't be picky about the jury because I did say in my Authors notes in one of the previous chapters that they weren't there and to ignore them.  That's why the jury was only mentioned in one chapter.  Also, I know that raped people don't want people telling them they love them like Trunks did to Pan, but she was comforted because of the bond they have.  That's why I kept going back to the bond thing.  I didn't want anyone to think that raped people are okay with that.  A lot of the stories I have read with Saiyans in it show how they have a tremendous bond between each other, even before they mark their mate.  That's what I wanted here.  But thanks for the criticism, I'll remember all that for any other story I write if I decide to get into courtroom stuff again.

Oh just a word of warning to you guys, I don't know what they do when they put people in protective custody, but here I put them in apartments, so…yeah…don't kill me.  :)

~Lady Branwen~

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Disclaimer: DBZ and DBGT aren't mine…

Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 22

Charles paced through his apartment.

"I can't believe that they took their word," he muttered to himself.

A look of intense anger was written on his face.   Sometimes he would tear at his hair, at others he would clench his hands futilely.  

"I'm going to lose the case.  They'll find out everything."

He squinted his eyes and stopped pacing. His mind was working and he stared at his window.  All at once he walked over to it and looked out.

The sky was dark, perfect for his escape.  The street below was virtually deserted.  Only one person was walking down the alleyway beside the building.  They were walking briskly, as if trying to get away from something.  This wasn't the greatest neighborhood in the world and Charles, in his insanity, believed himself better than any scum in the streets, even though he was just as ruthless as any of them.  In his twisted mind, he placed himself on a higher level, as if he were an aristocrat, more refined than others.   Unfortunately, he believed himself to be an aristocrat of the world, not the underworld of crime and lies and of the society in the world of lawbreakers where he really belonged.

"No one can stop me.  One way or the other, I WILL win."  He faintly snarled as he continued to think of Pan slipping from him.  "How dare she?  She's not going to leave me so easily.  She thinks that she has gotten out of my reach.  If I have to wait twenty years to get her, I will.  She's mine."

He went back in the room and looked at the clock.  He would have to wait a few more minutes for the cops to check up on him, then Charles would be able to attempt his escape.

"Mr. Miller, are you in there, sir?"

"Of course I'm here," he answered irritably, "I've been in here since you guys brought me here."

"Just checking, sir," the officer answered.  "It is my job."

"I don't care about your fucking job.  How am I ever going to get some sleep or do anything while you are bothering me every fifteen minutes?"

"Sorry, sir.  It's orders.  We've been through this before."  The officer was obviously losing what little patience he had for Charles.

Charles mumbled to himself and walked back to the window after the officer closed the door.  It would be twelve more minutes until they checked on him again.  He cautiously opened the door that lead to the fire escape and took a glance to the floors below him through the grating.  Now there was cop guarding the bottom of the fire escape, but not taking notice of Charles up above at all.  Charles swore under his breath and took off his shoes to minimize the noise.  He climbed out of the window and soundlessly stepped onto the grating.  Below, the officer still didn't notice what was going on above him and Charles thanked Lady Luck for that.  Finding his escape route blocked, he quickly created another escape plan. Instead of climbing down the fire escape, he climbed to the top of the building.

Once there, he put on his shoes and walked to the door, then walked down the long flights of stairs to the street.  His heart was thumping from the adrenaline and was extremely pleased with the ease in which he had gotten away from the police. 

"What a bunch of morons," he sneered as he walked away from the building.  No one took notice of him as he left as they all thought was a tenant.  

He walked and walked until he got to another building and saw something peculiar that made him smile with some devilish glee.  What had first gotten his attention was that a few police cars were parked outside the building.  He chanced to look up and to his delight, saw a person with purple hair fly away from an eighth story window.  How many people have purple hair and can fly?  He immediately looked to the room and saw Pan watching the now distant figure fly away, then went back inside her room.  Charles continued his grin and went to the fire escape that led to her room and began to climb up. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Pan sighed and walked back to her room.

"Miss Miller?"

"Yes?"

"Okay, I was just checking on you."

Pan walked to the front door of her apartment and opened it.  "Thanks, officer," she said.  "I'm so glad all of you are here to protect me."

Officer Korban smiled at her sincerity. "Just doing my duty, ma'am.  You should get some rest."  

Another officer came down the hallway and stopped next to Korban.  "How are things here? Everything all right, ma'am?"

Pan nodded and smiled. "I'm going to sleep now, I'm so tired."

"Okay, but just so you know, we're going to have to check on you from time to time," the other officer said.  They stepped into the room.

"Um…" Pan stepped away from them hesitantly.

Korban and the other police officer looked at each other.  "Why don't we radio in for a female officer, hm?"  Korban asked for a woman to come and check on Pan instead.  "Now, Miss Miller, don't go to sleep until she gets here, all right?"

Pan nodded and they receded back into the hallway.

She crossed the room and sat on the couch in front of the TV, but did not turn it on.  Instead she thought of her feelings for Trunks.

"How can I feel this way about him?" she wondered.  "I find myself recoiling from nearly everyone else, but not Trunks.  Why is that?"  She lay down on the couch and closed her eyes in thought.  

Memories flooded back to her of all the times Trunks had saved her: the first when she was escaping that small hut in the country, again when she had been kidnapped, saved her from being found when Charles came to find her by getting her into the secret room in her father's house, plus all the other times he had been there for her in her thoughts through that bond he kept telling her about.  She smiled as she thought about him.  Whenever her thoughts strayed to Trunks, remembering the love and all the emotions in his eyes when he looked at her, the sorrow of not being able to make her happy sometimes, the look of joy when he did, Pan felt warm and comforted.  She didn't know what it was that made her love him, cling to him like a lifeline in an ocean of uncertainty and fear, but she did it gladly because he was the only one she felt that she could trust.  Her parents, yes, she could trust, but how well did she know them?  She knew Trunks much better.  He was, after all, the boy who she had seen in her dreams so many times.  

Sometimes it had only been brief glimpses into his life, other times she could hear him speak to a woman with blue hair or a boy with black hair and a cellphone at school.  When she had contacted him for the first time, she was surprised at how he had been so worried about her.  He had mainly wanted to know who she was, but as she read his mind she found out that he did want to help her.  Her sobs had torn his heart and he wanted to help her get over whatever it was that was making her cry.  This had convinced her more than all the years of him being the sweet boy in her dreams that he would be the one she could trust to help her.  

"That must have been when our bond started to form…" Pan thought.  

She opened her eyes and was shocked to see a figure standing over the couch in the reflection of the TV.  Pan was frozen, not believing that there really was something in the room with her.  She was facing the door to the room, she would have noticed someone coming in.  Then, she realized that she had never closed the window she had come in through…  Her dropped open to scream, but she couldn't.  Pan tried to attribute the image to her imagination; too much stress was probably making her hallucinate.  Slowly she turned her head, telling herself that she was going to find herself looking at air, nothing would be there, but her heart still beat wildly in her chest.  Then she saw Charles there, his nostril flaring.  She sat staring at him in mute horror.  She was immobile from her fear.

"What is he going to do?"  She dreaded finding out as her mind came up with all sort of hideous answers to her question.  

Suddenly he grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the window.  As soon as she had been moved, she found herself free of whatever restraints had kept her from screaming, her instincts kicking in to help her fight for her life.  Pan let out a short yelp before Charles managed to cover her mouth with his hand.  

Soon enough, Pan found herself being carried by him down the street.  Charles was running much faster than Pan thought he ever could.  His hand was still covering her mouth.  Again all the different situations that she could be put through by him starting popping up in her mind.  The farther away she got from the room she had been in, the more she began to panic.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Korban heard a short yelp come from inside the room.

"Pan?" he called through the door.

There was no answer.

Hesitating no longer, he rammed the door down and stepped into the room.  Several other policemen had joined him and they looked around the room, trying to find some sign of Pan.  One of them found the open window and motioned for the others to look out.

When he looked out the window, Korban saw a pair of legs kicking the night air that were being carried by a hulking figure.  

"Radio in some back ups," he ordered before flinging himself out of the window onto the fire escape to follow her.  The others followed him, but ran to the parking lot to get the police cars. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Trunks stopped himself in mid-flight.  He was gripped with a sudden rush of fear.

"What's this?" he asked himself.  "I'm not scared of anything, there's nothing out here to scare me right now…" then he suddenly remembered his link to Pan and realized that she had to be in trouble.  Sudden flashes in his mind showed him Charles' leering face, his hand covering a mouth.

He quickly turned around and headed back to the apartment, trying to lock onto Pan's ki.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Charles ran.  In the distance he could hear the sirens of police cars, but they were getting ever closer.  His mind raced as he tried to figure out what to do next; he had not planned this far, he had made a quick and easy plan to get Pan out of her room.  The wailing sirens and Pan kicking and punching him was distracting him from coming up with any kind of plan.  

Suddenly the path in front of him was lit from behind him and there were people shouting at him.  He looked over his shoulder as he ran and saw that there was an unmarked police car following him. 

"Shit."  

He swerved into a narrow alleyway and ran as fast as he could.

"It's too narrow here; they won't be able to follow," he said to himself with a smile.

Unfortunately for him, he miscalculated.  The car continued to follow him down the alleyway, barely able to fit.  Sometimes the mirror on the car would hit the brick wall, but the driver and passenger didn't pay it any attention, instead focusing on Charles and his movements.  Suddenly, the lights shown on a brick wall right in front of Charles.  He had reached a dead end.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Pan's eyes grew wide as she realized what this meant.  The police would catch Charles for sure.  She would finally be free.  There would be no way that Charles could sweet talk himself out of this one, no one would believe any story he told.  They would only be able to see the fact that she had been taken from the apartment and had screamed.  Surely Officer Korban had heard her?  

She watched as the two officers got out of the car with their guns pointing at Charles, screaming at him to let her go.  But he did no such thing.  His grip on Pan was tighter than ever.

_"If he won't let me go, just shoot us both,"_ she thought.  _"It's no use living if I have to be with him."_  A tear rolled down her eye and she looked at the policemen pleadingly as Charles still had her mouth covered.  _"Suicide was my other option.  If Trunks had not helped me, I would have done it."_

With a swift move, Charles let her mouth go, but his arm now encompassed her neck in a chokehold.  

"Let her go!" one officer shouted. 

"Take one more step and I'll kill.  I swear I'll do it."  He said this calmly and with a deadly tone.  He meant it. 

"Let her go," the other said.

Pan began kicking at him, unsuccessfully trying to get him to release her, but it was to no avail.  He tightened the chokehold and forced Pan to give up her efforts in order to try to breathe.  

More police cars appeared and more policemen pointed their guns are Charles, but he still didn't give up his fight.  News crews appeared also much to Pan's and Charles' surprise.  

The police continued trying to convince Charles to let her go, but he wouldn't listen and continued to hold onto Pan, never loosening his grip.   Pan looked up at the sky, and noticed a figure floating above. Her heart leapt as she realized that it was Trunks.  He lowered himself to the ground, behind a building and a few seconds later he had walked to the scene.  Trunks pushed past the reporters and managed to get by a few policemen before Charles noticed him and began yelling and threatening to kill Pan then and there.  An officer held Trunks back.

_"Don't be afraid.  You may not know it, but I can move faster than anyone here.  You'll be far away from Charles before he even has a chance to kill you," _Trunks thought to her.  _"The only thing is, I don't know whether I should act now or wait until he tries.  I'm not supposed to bring any undue attention to any of my abilities unless the situation calls for it."_

_"Well," _Pan thought,_ "I think the situation calls for it."_

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Oh my gosh, Videl, look at the TV," Chi-Chi called to Videl from the living room of Videl's house.  

Goku, Chi-Chi, and Goten were over to help calm Gohan and Videl's nerves.  Videl was in the kitchen getting everyone a drink, Gohan was taking a shower, and all the rest were in the living room.  She walked in and nearly dropped the drinks she as carrying when she looked at the television.  

"It's Pan!"  She sat the drinks down on the coffee table and sat on the couch, her hand covering her mouth.  She could barely stand to look at the sight before her.  

"Why is he there!" she screamed, jolting everyone's attention away from the screen.  "Those stupid policemen were supposed to protect her!"

"Shh, Shh..." Chi-Chi said, gently pulling Videl back to her seat.  "You should do anything stupid right now, Videl.  I'm sure that the policemen have seen the error of their ways.  They can see that you all haven't been lying about trying to protect Pan now.  Look at her, she's so scared.  I can see it in her eyes…but you can't do anything right now.  That restraining order still stands and you could be thrown in jail.  What good would it do if you protect her this one time, but don't get a chance to protect her for a very long time?"

Videl nodded and clenched her hands while watching the TV.  

Goten let out a breath and said, "Well, at least Gohan is taking a shower and isn't seeing this.  I don't think he would have even stopped himself from going out the door to listen to you, Mom.  He doesn't listen to reason when it comes to his kids."

"I don't blame him," Goku said.  "When you have kids, Goten, you'll understand.  Your mom was only able to think and say all that because it isn't her kid on the TV being held captive by some sicko.  When your own kid is in danger, it's very hard to do that."

They heard the water being turned off and a few minutes later Gohan was walking down the stairs.  They all looked hesitantly at each other, preparing themselves for when Gohan found out.  Goten jumped up and bolted to the back door and Goku blocked the front door.  Chi-Chi and Videl both stood up in front of the television and waited for Gohan to enter the room.  As soon as he did, Videl said, "Gohan, honey, don't get mad."

"About what?"  His tone was serious.  He sensed her uneasiness and saw the sadness on her face.  

"Something is going on," she replied.  "You're not going to like it…"

She bit her lip and looked away.

"What?"  He took a step closer to her.  "Videl, what is going on?" 

Chi-Chi stepped away from the TV, Videl also moving away and Gohan saw Pan being held up by a meaty arm around her neck.  He gasped and walked closer to the TV, not wanting to believe what he was seeing.  Holding her up in a chokehold was Charles and Gohan's blood began to boil.  

Videl put her arms around his waist and whispered, "Gohan, I know you don't want to, but we should stay here.  We-"

Suddenly a very familiar person stepped in front of the camera.  

"It's Trunks," Goten said from the door way.

"See, we don't have to go.  Trunks is there.  She trusts him more than us anyway.  We'll only make things worse if we go, Gohan."

He sighed and sat down on the couch, with his head in his hands, attempting not to destroy the house.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 


	23. Chapter 23

Well, I'm sure that you guys are soooooooo happy to see that this is updated, right!  I know I would be if I were in your shoes.  But it seems like I wanted a real vacation from everything and barely worked on this the whole summer, so to everyone who reads this, I'm  sorry.  But yeah, waking up at 2:30 pm and going to bed at 4:00 am is fun!  ^_^  Enjoy!

~Lady Branwen

- - - - - - - - - - -

Disclaimer: I'm only a fanfic writer, if I owned DBZ, I wouldn't be writing this stuff, right?

Girl of My Dreams

Chapter 23 

Pan listened listlessly as the police continued to talk Charles out of the situation.  Her hope rested on them of course, but she found herself thinking that Trunks could do a better job of helping her.  Hadn't he always been there?  Hadn't he been worried about her well being?  What else had made him go about looking for her when he first started having his dreams?  Curiosity, yes, but he had a good heart and Pan knew that; she had sensed that a long time ago.  He was helpful to anyone who deserved help and Kami knows she needed- still needs his help.  If Trunks couldn't help her, then she couldn't trust anyone else to do so.  

Her thoughts wandered to her father and mother and baby brother.  Where were they?  Why wasn't her father here?  Had she scared him off when she told him that she didn't want him around her after all that had happened?  She seriously doubted it.  After all of that time, after her screaming fits, he would always tell her that he understood that she had been raped and did not want anyone around, but he would be damned if anyone laid a finger on her again.  He loved her then and he must love her now.  Where was he at this very moment?  

She was thankful, though, that her brother hadn't ever known the life that she had faced.  It was terrible remembering her own childhood.  Imagine having barely any good memories to turn to because they were so rare in her life.  Most of them had some tinge of hate and cruelty to them.  She never wanted to remember things.  She knew that it would be worse if she knew that her brother had suffered the same fate as she had.  Pan wanted to be able to know that her little brother had led a good life on his short time on Earth.  He had few bad memories, if any.  Tears slid silently down her face.

Trunks looked pained when he saw the tears.  He knew her thoughts and communicated to her: _"Pan, it'll be okay.  I'll get you out of here.  Kami!  I wish these stupid policemen weren't here.  They will only get in my way.  I haven't thought of any way to help you yet without making myself seem supernatural or something."  _He smirked slightly, trying to make a small joke to keep her spirits up.  _"I wouldn't want them to burn me at a stake."_

For Trunks' sake, she smiled.  He seemed to realize this and ducked his head down slightly in thought.  

"Let her go!" A woman officer called out to Charles.  "We can work this all out, you don't have to do this."

"Oh no," Charles answered.  "you're not fooling me, lady.  Do you actually want me to believe that I'll get away with this?  I'm obviously not going to win the case, so why should I bother listening to you?  I'm not going to get out of going to jail.  I don't care anymore!  She's mine!  Not that bitch's daughter."

Pan's eyebrows drew together and lips came down in a frown at hearing her mom called that name.  _"My mom's not a bitch.  She's a great lady.  I know she won't mistreat me," she thought furiously.  _

"Mr. Miller," Trunks broke in.  "Maybe we can't fool you, but maybe we can reason with you.  Do you want what's best for Pan?  Or are you willing to ruin her life?  If you really care about her like you claimed throughout the entire trial, then you would do the right thing and let her go."

"Oh please.  Don't give me that bullshit.  You know I'm a selfish bastard," he sneered.  "That is what you think, isn't it?"

Trunks' face was unreadable.  "Well, if that is what you want to think of yourself, Mr. Miller, I can't stop you, but it would be the best for everyone here if you just let her go.  If you let her go of your own accord, if police do not have to take her from you by force, it will look better.  It would look like you actually have some sort of conscience and can be redeemed.  Maybe then you will be put in prison for maybe twenty years instead a life sentence in prison."

Charles only smirked.  

Pan struggled uselessly.  If reason wasn't going to talk Charles out of all this, then probably noting will.  He thought of himself as a great intellectual, not some evil monster that needed to be taken down.  His grip tightened around her and Pan began to feel enclosed, even claustrophobic.  She smelled his sweat and his general scent and memories flooded back of other times when she had had close enough contact with him to smell him.  Pan struggled more fiercely.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gohan was still sitting down in the house.  His hands were gripping his hair tightly and his eyes were glued to the TV, watching every move that was made.  Goku was now sitting to his left on the couch, Videl to his right.  Goten and Chi Chi sat in separate chairs on either side of him, their eyes also plastered to the screen and the events unfolding before them.

_"How could this have happened?" _ He questioned.  _"Why did I let it happen?"_

_"You didn't," _Videl answered through their bond.  _"It was my fault right from the start.  I know it, and while I hate to accept that truth, I do.  Gohan, you couldn't have prevented all this.  You certainly couldn't have when she was born, I wouldn't have let you.  You couldn't have stopped it now anyway.  Maybe if we weren't so noticeable, I mean, if I weren't Hercule's daughter, then maybe we would have had some chance to do something.  As everything stands though, we are way too far into the spotlight.  Everything we do is on camera.  Trunks is keeping his cool out there.  He isn't rushing headlong into a fight.  You would.  I understand that you love Pan, but you wouldn't be able to help her at this very second."_

_"Videl, you've seen me move from one point to another without you being able to see me.  I can move quicker than any human can see.  I can appear in front of him, take Pan and be out of there before anyone knows what happened."_

Videl shook her head.  _"That's exactly what I mean, Gohan.  That's not what we want to happen."_

"How do you know that's not what 'we' want to happen?"  Gohan said out loud, rising up out of his seat angrily and staring down at her contemptuously.  "I want to see her safe, Videl.  I want her out of there.  Why isn't Trunks doing something?"

"He is Gohan," Goten said.  He too stood up.  "Can't you hear him?  He's trying to reason with him."

"Yeah, sure, that'll work.  Goten, I know he's your best friend, but Pan is your niece.  Look at the fucking situation, Goten!  Think about it!  Charles is planning on hurting Pan!"

"Trunks isn't going to let that happen.  He loves Pan.  He's done nothing but try to help her all this time.  I seriously doubt that he's going to let anything bad happen to her.  He can move almost as fast as you can.  Humans wouldn't be able to see him either.  So if he absolutely has to, then he will wrench her from Charles' grasp… But I want you to think about it, Gohan.  Do you think that that will help Pan?  Being handled so roughly?  Don't you think that maybe it would remind her of everything else he has done to her?  If any of us do that, then we'll lose her trust.  That's the last thing you want."

Gohan sighed and looked helplessly at the TV screen.  "I want to help my daughter," he murmured.

Videl stood up and hugged him close to her, telling him everything would be all right.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

_"There has to be something I can do.  She trusts me.  I'm the only one she trusts, so I have to make whatever I do count.  If only I could think of something!"_

Trunks wracked his brain trying to create a plan that would satisfy all the factors involved in the situation: the press and also the world shouldn't see his powers because it would bring too much attention to him and his family, he couldn't do anything that would unduly frighten Pan thus making her afraid of him, and he couldn't kill Charles because then he would be sent to jail.   This left him to doing something a regular human would do.  He would have to use his brain instead of his strength.  

_"I have all the brain power I need, I'm my mom's son for Kami's sake…but I'm also my father's son…I guess that's why I want to use my muscles instead of logic.  I have to do this for Pan, she means everything to Gohan and Videl…to me."_

Trunks became uneasy as he fought his emotions to tear Charles limb from limb.  That would most definitely scare Pan, wouldn't it?  If she saw the kind of hate and terrible strength that he was capable of, she would become uneasy around him at the very least.  She had been beaten down for too long to just wave something like that away.

"Charles," he called out, "wouldn't you rather just let things be?  You're not going to accomplish anything by doing this."

Charles snorted.  "So what?"

"So…maybe you should think of Pan?  Letting her go is your best option.  You'd be showing remorse!"

"You've said that already!" 

"I know, but think about it… You could just stay in jail for a long time.  You wouldn't die…and maybe if you show good behavior, they will let you out sooner than you're supposed to be let out."

"Yeah, but why go to jail at all," Charles argued as if what he was saying was the only right answer.  "Why should I have to rot away in a stupid cell when I could just be dead?  Why should I lose MY daughter to someone else?  Why not just take her for myself?"

"She's not really yours to begin with, Mr. Miller."  Trunks was beginning to get frustrated.  He really wished that Charles would just shoot himself and leave Pan alone.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Pan felt Charles' grip loosen slightly.  Her brows furrowed.  _"He's not giving in is he?  It's not like him…  Maybe he's get tired or something."_

Pan continued to this on this as Trunks talked to Charles.

_"Should I try to run away?  If I just lowered myself really quick from underneath his arms, then I can get away.  Of course, he'll probably notice while I'm doing dropping and even if I initially get out from his grasp, I won't get very far.  He'll be sure to reach out and grab me.  If that happens, then he's not going to make the mistake to let his grip loosen again…or he might just kill me and everything that Trunks is trying to do to help me would be for nothing.  Would I actually be hurting the situation if I tried to get away?"_  She sighed inwardly.  _"But this might be the only chance I have to escape?  What if Trunks says something to aggravate Charles or if one of the policeman start shooting or come too close?  Then Charles will kill me for sure!"  _

Pan faced a difficult decision.  Both had their consequences and both, if they worked the way they were supposed to, would allow her to be free.  She could wait for Trunks and the police to sort things out on their own, without Pan doing anything, or she could make a run for it.  

Her pulse quickened as she made her decision.  She looked at Trunks, trying to communicate with him, but something stood in her way.  Either he was concentrating too hard on trying to help her, or she was just too nervous to make any kind of connection, but Pan found that she couldn't reach him.  Neither their bond nor her own powers were helping at all.  So, Pan tried to look at Trunks in a meaningful way to let him know that she was about to do something very brave but very stupid, in her opinion.  Nothing worked though, Trunks was just concentrating too much on sweet-talking Charles into letting her go. 

Pan made sure that Charles wasn't paying too much attention to her, at least not enough to be prepared for her escape.  She kept the same amount of tension that she already had; if she became tenser or more relaxed, that would bring too much attention to herself.  Again Pan tried to make some sort of contact with Trunks, but still did not manage to attract his attention.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Gohan, everything is going to be okay.  Just calm yourself.  You're not helping anyone by doing this."  

Videl was sitting beside Gohan on the couch, trying her best to comfort her worried mate.  

"I can't believe any of this happened," he said, his voice muffled due to the fact that he was covering his face with his hands.  

Videl patted his back consolingly and rested her head on his shoulder.

Suddenly the quiet of the room was disturbed by a shriek heard from Chi Chi. She had been sitting quietly watching the news, but now Chi Chi was standing up with her hands held to her mouth in shock.  Everyone in the room was looking at her in wonder.  Why had she screamed?  Then it dawned on them that she was looking unwaveringly at the television and slowly their eyes looked from her to the television screen.

The cameraman was making the camera shake around making it difficult to see what was going on, but the Son family knew what was happening.  They saw a familiar head of straight black hair running away from the cameraman, but he or she was close behind.  Apparently, Pan had broken free of him, but Charles was unwilling to give up on capturing her for he was following her.   Several policemen were in pursuit of them, the cameraman close behind.

"Stay back," one officer called back to the cameraman.  

He or she stood there for a second as two more cops ran past.

"No!  Keep following!" Videl yelled at the TV.

It was as if the cameraman had heard her because they started running again.  Pan came into view again, yards ahead with Charles nearly upon her.  They saw Trunks run past the cameraman, just slightly above a regular human's running speed, quickly catching up to Charles and Pan.  

"Run, Pan, run!" Videl whispered to the TV.  Gohan stood resolutely, confident that HIS daughter would outrun a mere human.  How could she not?  And even if she couldn't, Trunks was there… But there was still the paternal side of him that couldn't help but worry about his only daughter.

Pan was still running as fast as she could.  Suddenly, her form disappeared from the screen as she turned a corner and Charles and Trunks disappeared after her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

All right, so that's the end of this chapter.  The next chapter you see will be the last chapter.  :'(  There isn't any sort of a guarantee when I will get it out, but it's planned out, so hopefully my laziness won't affect it too much…hehehe.  See ya!

~Lady Branwen

 TO THE PEOPLE ON MY MAILING LIST

I need you guys to keep updating your e-mail and sign up for the mailing list again when you change your e-mail if you still want it.  I know a lot of you have changed them, don't worry I do it too ;) but I've been getting a lot of my updates sent back to me because there is no address for me to send them to anymore.  So, if you want to know when I update, you have to sign up again.  Thanks!


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer:  No DBZ for me.  *cries*

**Girl of My Dreams**

_Chapter 24_

Pan sat semi-contentedly in a chair in one of the many ice cream shops in the city.  Where was Trunks?  He should have been here already.  The bell above the door rang as someone walked into the shop.  Pan turned around expectantly, her mouth open and ready to scold him, but Trunks wasn't there.  Of course.  She sighed and played with the ice cream lazily.  The bell rang again and again she turned around.  But this time, it was Trunks!  He smiled at her and she forgot all her reproaches on the spot.

"How are you?"  That had been his customary greeting for a while now.  How long had it been since the whole chase?  Ten months ago?

"No hi?" 

"Hi, how are you?"  He smiled again.

"Hi, I'm doing pretty good, how are you?"

"Ah, you know me.  But seriously, Pan, how are you?  I don't want you to lapse back to how you were before…"

"I'm FINE, Trunks.  Let's talk about something else, I don't like remembering all of the past."  At every one of their meetings he had to ask how she felt and how she was doing.  Everyone else did it too.  It wasn't that she wasn't grateful that they all cared so much about her, it was starting to get annoying.  That was their only conversation with her and she really didn't feel like talking about it to everyone. 

Sheepishly he tucked his head down.  "Sorry, I forgot.  I just wanted to make sure.  Anyway, what have you been up to lately?  I haven't seen you in a few days."

"Yeah I know you haven't seen me!  How dare you, Trunks Brief.  Well, my mom and I went shopping again for my room-"

"What color is it now?"  Trunks remembered the many colors Pan had already gone through.  She just couldn't decide on the color she wanted.  Her parents had indulged her to keep her happy, though Trunks figured that by now it had to be wearing them out.

"Right now it's a sort of mauve/pink/purple color.  I don't know what to call it really."

Trunks wrinkled his nose.  He hated pink.  Any shade of it.  "And?  Do you like it?"

"Nope."

"No…"

"No, I'm going to switch it to a shade of blue tomorrow.  Dad already bought the paint.  And I think I'm going to stick with this color because it's a really nice one.  And yesterday Mom bought me a bed sheet set that matches that color.  It's going to look so cool!"  He started thinking about how she had changed.  She was obviously faking her excitement.  Her face was drawn, just as if she hadn't been getting enough sleep.  "_She's probably having a rough time right now.  I bet she's not getting a moment's peace because of all the reporters staking out her house."_  That would make anyone lose sleep.  Ever since the end of the case, reporters had been crowding around Videl and Gohan's home, hoping to catch a glimpse or even get to speak with Pan.  There were others outside Capsule Corporation, but the crowd of reporters wasn't nearly as large as the one surrounding Pan's home.  Trunks silently cursed the reporters.  _"They love to cause trouble.  They don't care how distraught Pan might be, they just want to talk to her so that they will have a good news story.  Why won't they just leave her alone?  Would they like to discuss to an entire world about their life full of abuse?  Pan isn't ready to do that yet."  Then his mind wandered to the contradiction she was setting up around her.  At the moment she seemed bubbly and happy.  She was acting like some popular airhead who knew of nothing else to talk about except fashion and accessories and boys.  But then, she was wearing the most tomboyish of clothes, a decidedly unairhead-like look.  _

She noticed Trunks had been looking at the top of her head since she had been talking.  "Hello?  Trunks?"

"What's with the bandana? And, with the boy clothes for that matter…"  He glanced down at her red shirt and baggy pants with a chain hanging out of one of the pockets.  "I'm so used to you wearing jeans, but at least they were girl jeans…"

"You don't like them?"  She asked casually, but there was a hint of defensiveness in her tone.

"Oh yeah!  They're okay, I was just wondering."  

Pan shrugged.  "I just wanted a change."

The conversation fell to silence.  Trunks wanted to hear how she was really doing.  He knew she was lying when she said she was okay.  She wasn't.  How could she be?  

Trunks recalled chasing Charles and Pan through alleys and remembered Charles finally catching Pan…

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

"Pan!" Trunks called out.  "Keep running!"

It was too late; Charles grabbed Pan's hair and pulled her violently back toward him. He kicked her and she fell to her knees in pain, crying because there was nothing she could do.  Charles knelt on her back, making sure she couldn't escape.  He pulled her head up by her hair and was ready to bring her head smashing back down on the pavement when a gunshot rang out through the dark alley.  The policemen had finally caught up.  

Pan's face hit the ground and she felt Charles' weight fall on top of her.  She ached all over.  Had she been shot?  Was she bleeding now?  Was there a bullet buried in her skin?  A pair of cool hands pulled her out from under Charles.  She was rolled over onto her back and her head rested on someone's thigh.  Her vision was blurry, but she could see Trunks' purple hair and his blue eyes hovering above her.  "It's going to be okay, Pan.  You're fine."  Then she knew nothing.

- - - - - - - - - -

What ensued was a few months of staying the hospital.  Pan slipped back in and out of consciousness during those months, sometimes not even remembering what was going on around her.  Everyone she knew stayed with her.  Someone was always there in case she woke up or she really started feeling better.  When she did finally start to get better, a psychiatrist came and interviewed her.  Only she and her parents knew what was talked about and no one asked or told about it.  

_"It must be difficult for her, adjusting to a totally different life…How would I feel if I were beat up all my life and had gotten into that rhythm of life, used to it, then suddenly I would be in a world without pain and suffering on a daily basis?  She must feel so out of place.  Hopefully she has adjusted somewhat, though.  It's been a long enough time for her to at least get partially used to it.  She'll never lose her memories though…It's too bad that she never knew about her Saiyan powers until recently.  I'm sure she could have taken Charles out if she had even been taught how to use them…maybe even if anyone had even hinted that she had powers.  Things could have been different.  At least Gohan is teaching her now so she can protect herself later."_

- - - - - - - - - -

Gohan sat in front of Pan at the breakfast table.  "Pan, I've been thinking a lot lately and I think it's time that I told you about your race."

"My race?" She asked incredulously.  "I know all about my race, Dad.  I'm human…"

He shook his head.  "No, you're one fourth Saiyan."

"Saiyan?  What's that?"

"We're another species.  As you can tell, we look a lot like humans.  The only difference is that we're born with tails, have wild hair, and are stronger than humans.  Didn't you think something was up with all our weird hair?  Like Grandpa Goku, Goten, Me, Joey, and Vegeta?"

"Well…I thought it was just the style."

"If you want to see what Saiyans are like, all you have to do is look at Grandpa Goku or Vegeta.  Well…maybe Vegeta would be a better example.  Dad hit his head when he was little and he forgot how to act like a true Saiyan.  But that's a different story, maybe I'll tell it to you later.  But both of them are full-blooded Saiyans.  Just try to imagine them with tails."

Pan's eyebrow raised as she thought about it.  "What about Trunks?  Why doesn't he have funny hair?"

"Oh, he got his hair from his mom."

"I see."

"Anyway, the whole point of bringing this conversation up was that I want to train you."

She looked quizzically at him.  

"Training is what Saiyans do.  It's how we become stronger.  Unfortunately, you could have been far along by now, but since you're just starting to learn, you'll be a little behind.  It will be easier for you to learn though than it would be for a human to learn."

"Explain 'training.'" 

"I'll teach you how to fly-"

"Like Trunks?!"

"Yup and-"

"I don't think I can do that…"

"Sure you can!  You're a Saiyan, it practically comes naturally.  Humans have a more difficult time learning unless they have practiced martial arts for a long time.  You won't fall or anything, unless you allow yourself to, but Saiyan bodies are built to withstand falling from high up or being hit by someone with a lot of power.  You just have to learn how to harness these abilities within yourself."

She smiled thinking how nice it would feel to be flying in the air with the birds, spiraling in the clouds with Trunks and her younger brother, free from any earthly limitations.

"And you will learn how to use ki and you can use it to hurt your enemies or train with, cook with, or dry yourself off with after a shower."

"You make it sound like a towel…"

"No, no, it's energy.  I showed your mom a long time ago…"

- - - - - - - - - -

And now Pan was doing very well with her powers.  If anyone attacked her now, she would be able to defend herself.  Not that anyone would allow her to get into any trouble like that again.  There was always someone around making sure that she was okay.  He almost felt bad for her being so cooped up all the time.  She probably rarely ever got any privacy.  Everyone was so intent on making sure she was still home or keeping tabs on her wherever she went, she never had anytime to be completely alone without thinking someone was watching her.  Trunks would hate to feel like that.  

"Anything new with Goku?"

"Not really.  Grandma is making him paint their house, but he always sneaks away and visits me.  You know, he doesn't bother me…Everyone always asks how I am and where I'm going.  He just talks to me and we eat a lot of food and watch TV together.  I like it when he visits."

"Yeah, Goku has that affect on people.  Everyone except my dad, of course." 

They laughed.

"So what's up with the schooling situation?  Are they going to make you go to the high school or are they going to let you stay home and learn there?"

"Well, knowing them, I think they are going to keep me home."

"And you want to go…?"

She shrugged and looked down at the table.  "I don't know."

"It looks like you do."

"I want to go so that I can get away from all the craziness at my house, but…I'm not sure if I'm ready to be around so many people yet.  What if I freak out on my first day?  People would laugh at me."

"Yeah, they probably wouldn't understand.  Maybe you should stay home."

Pan visibly cringed.  Trunks laughed softly.  "Okay, maybe that's not the best idea.  What if you ask your parents to let my mom teach you about stuff?  She can be annoying, but she's a genius at everything."

"That sounds great!" she exclaimed, then her expression dimmed.  "But what if they say no?"

"Argue with them a little.  You've heard how girls are losing interest in math and stuff, right?  My mom could teach you tons of math; it's her specialty.  She can show you how to make capsules and machines for my dad to train with.  Those take a lot of math to make.  Math and science, that's all it is.  So you could argue with that, maybe they would listen and think it's a good idea."

Pan didn't really know how to deal with 'arguing.'  She had never done it before in her life; it had always been the wrong thing to do.  There had only done it one time and she had been severely beaten for it.  What if when she argued with her real parents it happened again?  What if it was the same in every other household?  Then again, what if they let her get away with it, but then she had painful flashbacks and she relapsed into a more timid mood?  She had worked so hard to get to the state she was now in.  Pan planned and dreamed of getting better to the point that she would be fearless, just like Trunks' father, Vegeta.  Of course, maybe Vegeta wasn't the best person to copy…

"Do you want to see a movie later?" he asked.  

"Um, no, I can't.  I have an appointment with my psychiatrist.  Today I'm supposed to talk about how I felt in the courtroom."

Trunks nodded sympathetically.  He knew she didn't want to talk about anything.  But she felt like she had an obligation to tell the psychiatrist about her ordeal.  Getting these things out were supposed to be helping her, and in a way they had, but Pan despised reliving her worst memories and then discussing them from many angles.  She especially didn't want to talk about her ordeal in front of her parents, but that was supposed to help in the healing process for all of them.  

Her family was finally given custody of her, but not after she had to go through a court process, most of which she had blocked out her mind.  She didn't ever want to see Charles again and yet she had had to be in the same room as him once again…

- - - - - - - - - -

"And here is a local news' tape of what happened in an alleyway.  You can clearly see here that Mr. Miller intended to harm Pan Miller," Bulma stated, gesturing to a large TV screen.  "Notice the tears on her face; she obviously does not want to be there."

_"Let her go!"_

_"Take one more step and I'll kill. I swear I'll do it." _

_ "Let her go!  We can work this all out, you don't have to do this."_

_"Oh no, you're not fooling me, lady. Do you actually want me to believe that I'll get away with this? I'm obviously not going to win the case, so why should I bother listening to you? I'm not going to get out of going to jail. I don't care anymore! She's mine! Not that bitch's daughter."_

_ "Mr. Miller, maybe we can't fool you, but maybe we can reason with you. Do you want what's best for Pan? Or are you willing to ruin her life? If you really care about her like you claimed throughout the entire trial, then you would do the right thing and let her go."_

_"Oh please. Don't give me that bullshit. You know I'm a selfish bastard. That is what you think, isn't it?"_

_"Well, if that is what you want to think of yourself, Mr. Miller, I can't stop you, but it would be the best for everyone here if you just let her go. If you let her go of your own accord, if police do not have to take her from you by force, it will look better. It would look like you actually have some sort of conscience and can be redeemed. Maybe then you will be put in prison for maybe twenty years instead a life sentence in prison."_

His voice rang out in the court and everyone heard the mockery in Charles' voice.  No one could mistake it.  They saw with their own eyes Pan's tears and Charles' arm held tightly around her.   There was no way that anyone, even the judge, could let Charles get away with everything that he had gotten away with previously.

And he didn't.  He was going to jail for life.  

All of Pan's family and friends had celebrated after the case was officially over, even Vegeta was seen being amused by the riot of fun and celebration that erupted at the Son house.

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

Pan was thinking again, Trunks could tell.  He had finally come to terms with the fact that he wanted her as his mate.  He had been denying it for so long, but now he couldn't deny it; he loved her too much.  And because of this love, he knew that he had to be on his own for a while.  While in the past Pan had clung to him because he had saved her and had helped her through her troubles, now she really didn't want to be held or protected.  It was like she was beginning to realize how protective Trunks was of her.  Maybe it had started to scare her.  She had become more distant from him recently, so he chivalrously stepped aside and allowed her to have her space.  Even Gohan had relented and had allowed her more freedom and had stopped following her in order to protect her.  It had only happened because the psychiatrist intimated that his constantly being around Pan was making Pan unhappy and might keep her from progressing.  Gohan hadn't liked the idea, but he gave Pan her space.

Everyone had been gentle with Pan, never forcing her to do anything since they met her.  Now they were making absolutely sure that they did not cause her any grief. 

Pan was slightly annoyed at them all.  She appreciated that they wanted to help her adjust to a new life, but she didn't want them distancing themselves so far away.  When she happened to enter a room at a time when they were talking about something mildly distressing, such as Joey being upset about starting preschool, the subject was changed to something more joyful.  In a way, it made Pan feel unwanted even though she knew that everyone cared for her.  Then again, she was caught between her own reactions and the way she felt.  Because she knew everyone cared for her, she wanted to get away.  She almost felt like they wanted to 'love' her the way Charles had.  It was stupid, she knew, but she couldn't help but think that way and wonder if maybe someday one of her new family members or friends would hurt her in the same way.

As she and Trunks left the ice cream shop together, Pan thought of all that she had been through.  Looking back, she had not had such a wonderful life.  There were many events, many difficulties, and many emotional and physical bruises.  No one could ever say that her life was boring.  And maybe, just maybe, she had lived through all of it for a reason.  Perhaps she was destined to be something great.   Maybe she could speak to the world later on in life and become and activist against abuse.  She would know what she would be talking about; she had lived through abuse.  But for now, Pan was content just to be around such caring people, even with all their faults and ways of annoying her.  She had never had such caring people around her and she knew that from that point on, she would always be happy.

*  The End  *

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, that's the end, I hope you all liked it!  I sort of made this chapter in a different sort of format or point of view as you can tell.  I hope it didn't confuse anyone.  Anyway, this may not be the final copy because I have a request of all of you…I've read stories were there are some hole in the plot-lines or something had been completely left out.  If there is anything like that here, let me know.  I'll try to incorporate it into this chapter, or if it's a major deal, maybe I'll post an epilogue.  

Thank you to all the faithful readers!  I know it took a long time to get the last, oh maybe 10 chapters out…hehehe.  Sorry about that…  But I am very thankful that you stuck with me all this time and didn't give up hope that I would quit on this story without finishing it.  It really means a lot to me.

~Lady Branwen~


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